All Wrapped In One With A Ribbon On It
by ivoryebonykeys
Summary: Shhh, my Rose, I'm here." I cradled her in my arms," I'll never leave you."
1. Chapter 1: Reunion

Leaves danced around her feet, the rose female stood alone as her thoughts crossed her mind. Those emerald eyes searched the park as she patiently waited. Her bangs adorned her forehead, her lips as pale pink petals and quills that embraced her neck and shoulders as the wind grew stronger. She stood before the magnificent view of the changing of colors of sunrise, the rays of lights slowly complimenting her colors. Her grey wool coat hugged against her thighs and her black high-heeled boots tapped against the pavement. A smile grew across her peach muzzle as three female creatures approached her.

Just wrapping men around her finger would amuse this seductress, but she believed with staying with one man and one man only. With her figure and aqua eyes couldn't help men fantasize and desire the white creature. The other walked with a flare in her step. The cat creature was tainted lavender, her gold eyes sparked as the sun rose and she possessed the element of fire. Lastly, a brunette creature, a sweet little thing. Positive energy surrounded her figure. With the smallest laugh, it made a heart skip a beat.

"Rouge! Blaze! Ella!", the pink female spoke, her soothing voice enough to make a child dream.

"Amy!", the white bat said.

The females embraced each other, laughing and crying.

"Hope we didn't make you wait too long.", the sweet brunette, Ella, hugged Amy.

"Oh no, don't worry, I just got here.." Amy lied as she wiped away her tears. Waiting in the cold felt like an eternity, "…now let's go, my house is right down the street.

They patiently waited at the cross light, conversing about their lives after the ARK incident. Amy went back into her mind again…

_Amy's P.O.V_

There's that feeling again…that wretched feeling of which made me grow depressed. I missed them. I missed us all as a team again…I just hadn't seen the others in awhile…no… 2 years wouldn't go under 'awhile'..

Most of all, there was someone I missed the most, one of my friends that I admired. He is a hedgehog as I am. Ebony with red strips that graced his body. Ruby eyes that truly sparkled with determination and courage, eyes that could see into your soul or even poison a mind with insanity. Thoughts only filled his mind and only kept to himself. Yes, I was infatuated with this creature but I honestly I doubt he would let anyone into his life again..

"Amy?....", A husky voice interrupted my thoughts.

I turned my body around only to see four figures. Could it be? The blue hedgehog spoke with a shocked expression over his face, his green eyes sparkled as if a child's eyes would while playing with a new toy. A smile grew across his face. He ran to me and picked me up in his arms, hugging me. I don't know how many he said my name but I was too happy to notice. He placed me back on the ground…

"Hello Sonic", I smiled.

I looked around, everyone's face was shining and they embraced one another, I mean I hadn't seen everyone in 2 years. This was what I wanted, now I didn't have to live thinking as a pessimist. I felt my old self come back to me again…

I was approached by two figures. They were like older brothers to me and I loved them as siblings. One, a grey hedgehog with fur that shined like silver and the other, a red echidna, who gave anyone the impression that he would gauge your eyes out but he was a caring person at heart.

"Silver…Knuckles.." I embraced them both and they hugged me back. They felt…different, their bodies felt tight and strong, " …how have you been?"

"We've been great…but Ames, you really have grown." Said Silver

It was true, I had changed. I had grown a bit taller. I was not the 12 year old I was before. I had matured, body and mind. My short quills were know beyond my shoulders. I had curves in right places but none that measured to Rouge. The red outfit I wore as a child, I had discarded, my wardrobe was now more modern and sophisticated. I did not speak in a high, preppy tone.

"I guess I have.." I answered.

Then a pair of arms wrapped around Knuckles' neck, "Hello Knuckles.", Rouge smirked and kissed his cheek.

"You just can't stay away from me, huh?" Blaze laced her fingers with Silver's. He snickered and hugged her.

Knuckles had been dating Rouge and Silver was dating Blaze. They were the only ones who had kept in touch. I saw Sonic and Ella, with their backs towards us, talking and giving small laughs.

"It's been a while hasn't it, Rose?"

A voice as smooth as velvet spoke behind my neck. It spent a tingle down my spine and my ears perk up to the music. I turned around…I truly loved this feeling..

"Shadow.." I looked into those eyes, those beautiful eyes. I tried to open my mouth but no word came out, my lips were frozen.

The seconds turned into minutes. No, I didn't want it to be like this. Suddenly, I couldn't contain myself. I wrapped my arms around his neck and brought him into an embrace.

_Shadow's P.O.V_

She took me by surprise and embraced me. Usually I'd find this awkward, but this one was so gentle and caring. I felt the warmness of a blush grow upon my cheeks. I wrapped around her slender waist and laid on her shoulder. A faint rose scent overwhelmed my sense, my heart was flying. Her eyes opened, those emeralds twinkled as if they were under a trance.

"I've missed you so much, Shadow", she grinned.

"I can say the same thing, Rose.", I stroked her hand. The last time I seen her was 2 years ago.

_Amy's P.O.V_

"This is great!" I heard Sonic yelled, "We're back together again!"

I couldn't agree more. We didn't realize that the traffic lights had changed about three times and drivers were giving us questioning looks wondering if we would cross the street or not. Sonic looked at his watch and his eyes flew open.

"We should get to my place, guys. The game is going start in a few.." he told them, "..we have to get together sometime"

We all agreed. I saw Sonic give Ella a soft peck on the lips before he left. Were they together? We said our goodbyes and crossed the north street as the guys crossed west. I stayed silent for the rest of the walk. It has 4 years since that horrible day. I replayed the ARK incident in my head…

_4 years ago.._

It was the time that the world would end. We were all there. An obese man by the name of Eggman had plotted this scheme and I started to believe that 'home' would not exist anymore. Sonic and Shadow were out in space, preventing the power of Eggman's new weapon from coming in contact with Earth. Gold auras surrounded their bodies…they glowed like gods. They looked so determined, giving everything that they had to save everyone. They both were in conversation. I noticed that Sonic was yelling at Shadow, his eyes filled with worry. Shadow stayed calm, eyes closed…I couldn't understand what was going on.

The power was beginning to stop. It brought relief back into my lungs. What I saw next shocked us all. Shadow lunged at Sonic and punched him in the gut. Sonic was unconscious, he looked so handsome as he floated around in space. Shadow took his body and pushed it towards the ARK ship. Knuckles and Silver ran towards the hatch to retrieve Sonic. I looked back out the window…Shadow was deep in thought.

A hiss of the automatic doors perked up my ears. Sonic's weak body was supported by Knuckles and Silver, he was conscious.

Everyone gathered around him, asking him questions of sorts. I pushed my way through.

"Sonic! What going on!?..", I asked hysterically, "What is Shadow-!"

"Ames..", He cut me off, "..he is giving up his life.." The room went completely silent.

"What?.." I whispered.

"I tried to talk him out of it, but he's not going to stop…He said.."

_"The humans are to be given a chance to be happy and I almost destroyed that chance. I am going to fulfill Maria's wish, Sonic, and you're not going to stand in my way.."_

I saw the fear, the worry, the sadness, all in Sonic's eyes. He looked away from me. I backed away from the crowd.

"My God…MY GOD!!" , I screamed.

I looked back out the window, just in time to see Shadow fly up higher into space.

"Shadow!!" I screamed as I ran out of the room. I had to get to him! I had to stop him!

I ran up the stairs through all the levels 'til I finally reached the top level of the ARK ship and there he was. He looked so beautiful…I saw him in the process of his sacrifice, he took off his energy wrist rings and let them float off into space.

Tears escaped my eyes and I screamed. I ran towards the window and began to bang my fists against the plexiglass, hiccups in between my sobs. As I hoped…I caught his attention. He looked at me, he had never seen me like this, no one had. I pressed my hand against the window..

"Don't go.." I whispered.

He gave me one of his smiles and pressed his hand against the glass, "Thank you..", his lips formed the words. I had reminded him of his promise…

"Please don't go." I whispered again.

He looked away from me. He flew further away from the ARK colony, now he was in the middle of everything. His view was focused on the energy source. The power was beginning to grow stronger again. Just as the power was about to hit Shadow, he yelled out and then…

All I could remember was white. A bright light that filled out into space and blinded me .A frequency noise deafening me. The light gave me a warm feeling. I felt like all my burdens were lifted off my shoulder. The lights quickly went out and I came back to my senses. I looked out the window and saw Shadow's body fall towards the Earth.

"Shadow!!" I pressed my body against the glass. No! He couldn't die like this! No! I watched in horror as his body disappeared.

He was gone…

I slid down the window. I lost the feeling in my body. My throat burned from all my screaming. I never felt like this. I hated this feeling! Damn it! Part of me was taken away…and once again, I let the world hear me…

"SHADOOOOW!!"


	2. Chapter 2: Ella's Love Story

Author: I do not own any of the Sega characters, but I do own Ella the Hedgehog.

- - -

That incident haunted me everyday after it occurred and still does to this day. I slowly started coming back to reality. I noticed my face was wet…Had I been crying? I also realized Rouge had me in an embrace. Was I really that zoned out to not focus on my surroundings? More tears creeped down my cheeks. Rouge looked me in my eyes..

"Amy, are you alright?' her voice filled with concern. I looked at Ella and Blaze, they too were worried. Ella had tears at the corners of her eyes, ready to flow.

"Do-Don't worry, I'll be fine." I said as I quickly wiped my tears away.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Blaze asked.

"Not at the moment…" I told her, hoping she would understand. Blaze just smiled which gave me some relief and we continued walking down the path to my house again.

I had moved houses recently, I wanted to start over with a new life. The moment I saw this one, I instantly fell in love. A garden surrounded the house which blossomed orange lilies and sunflowers in the summer. A white stone path which lead to the front porch with a swing. I turned the key and the door opened to the front hall. I walked over to the kitchen while everyone settled in the living room.

"Amy, would you like any help?" Ella asked.

"I got it, thanks" I said taking out a bag of marshmellows and dumping them into the four cups of hot chocolate. I carefully put them on a tray and carried them off to the living room. Everyone took their own and we went back to conversing.

"So, where have you all been for the last 2 years?" I asked them.

"The missions from G.U.N have had my hands full and so has Knuckles. He cannot keep his hands off me." Rouge winked at us. We all giggled at her story.

"I needed a break from all the drama so me and Silver stayed in New Jersey for awhile." Blaze smiled.

"And Amy…" Rouge smirked at me. I had it coming anyways, "..do you have someone special in mind?"

I gave a short laugh, "Not at the moment, I'm not really interested." I lied.

"Who wouldn't want to be with a girl like you, Ames?" Rouge smiled, "..with you all grown up, you'll have some eyes watching you."

"Thanks, Rouge." I rolled my eyes and smiled.

We all looked at Ella. She really had changed, her usual, short ponytail was now long, wavy locks. Her misty grey eyes were now a gorgeous silver and in the light, they glittered. Her sidebangs, which were now below her chin, framed her pretty little face.

"Well…I've been handling a job." Her voice slowly turning into a whisper.

"A job?...What kind of job?" I asked.

"Actually I had been staying with my friend, Bailey, to take care of her because she had broken her while walking down her stairs. So she was out of her job 'till her leg healed so I decided to take her place so she wouldn't lose her job." Ella told us. She was such a kind hearted person.

"Where did you work?" asked Blaze.

"I worked at a café called Barcelona. I played the piano there while people dined. You would not believe how much I loved that job. Getting praise from staff and customers, playing requests for lovers and watching children dance around with each other and their family." She let out a soft sigh, "It was heaven."

We giggled at her dreaming face, "Ella, you're such a hopeless romantic!" Rouge laughed.

Ella then fluttered her eyelashes and returned back to Earth.

"What happened after your friend's leg was fully recovered?" I asked.

"When she recovered, she was given back her job, I thought they would let me go but they said they couldn't let someone go with good talent. So I got the evening shift. Bailey doesn't get very stressed out anymore." She smiled.

"Well, good to know that story had a happy ending!" Rouge grinned

"Come to think of it, I have heard of the café, Barcelona, before. We should go there one day, I'd love to hear you play, Ella." I said with a little excitement in my voice.

"I would love you all to come!" Ella's smile grew.

"And we could bring the guys along too!" added Blaze.

Ella's smile turned into a sheepish smile and a blush appeared upon her cheeks.

"Someone's blushing" Rouge began to teased her, "Do you like a certain someone?"

Ella's blush grew some more.

"Um…I…yes I do." She looked at us with a shy grin. I decided to fool around.

"Who is it? Silver?" I asked her. Blaze turned towards me and glared at me. I backed off with a smug smile.

"No…it's…Sonic..." Ella told as she played with her bracelets. She looked at back us only to see our brightly lit faces. I was so happy for them, and their shy little conversation back at the cross street gave them up.

"Did you tell him about how you feel?" Rouge's smile grew.

"There's actually more to the previous story." Ella gave a small grin.

"Well, tell us! I'm so curious!" Blaze said excited.

Ella cleared her throat and continued her story…

2 years ago…

"What a night! That was the best karaoke night, right Mackenzie?" I laughed as I cleaned the piano.

"Just amazing! The little girl and her father made me so emotional." said a blonde hedgehog with auburn eyes. Here eyes scanned around for the clock and they shoot open, "Oh no!"

I gave her a questioning look.

"My date! He's picking me up in 15 minutes! This is just great!" she sighed in frustration.

"I can close up for tonight…it won't be a big deal" I placed my hand on her shoulder.

"Really, Ella? Thank you so much!" she hugged me, "I owe you!"

She grabbed her things, waved goodbye and ran out of the café. I was all alone. I finished cleaning up the last few tables and hanging the clean wine glass upside on rack. I took out my bag from my personal locker in the staff lounge and closed it up. As I passed the piano, I got the huge urge to play one more song.

"A little music won't hurt before closing up…" I smiled as I placed my things beside the piano bench. I decided to play a composition called Letting Go by Roy Todd. I let fingers flow with the melody. Playing to yourself was such an amazing feeling. I heard a small chime of bells but I ignored it, thinking it was probably the wind. I began playing the melody louder and soon the whole café was filled with music. This song inspired me to let go of the worst and look forward to the best. The soft melody was refreshing and sweet. The song was done…

Then I realized I was not alone. I heard the clapping of hands and almost jumped out of my skin. I slowly turned around and…

"Sonic?..." I whispered.

There he sat slowly clapping his hands with a smile on his face. How long has he been sitting there? I was so focused on my song that I was oblivious of his presence. There was so much happiness building up in my body that I got off the stage and ran over to him. He stood up and held me in his arms.

"Ella…I'm so happy to see you again.." he spoke. I hadn't heard his voice in a long time, "..I never knew you played piano."

I felt a blush tingling up my cheeks and turned my face away from Sonic, embarrassed, "I'm still learning, I haven't gotten some of the chords right."

"I think it was beautiful." he whispered in my ear. I turned to him, his smile was making my heart flutter. For the first time, I've never been so attracted to someone. For the first time, I saw how handsome and different Sonic was.

For the rest of the night, we talked about our lives, as we drank hot chocolate. We left the café before midnight.

"Need a ride, Ella?" Sonic asked.

"If it's oka-!" I was cut off when Sonic lifted me off my feet and ran at full speed. Everything was so fast, I closed my eyes as tight as I could.

Finally we stopped. He placed me on my front step of my house.

"Heh, was I too fast?" Sonic asked, nervous.

"Maybe, a little." I giggled.

"I'd love to see you again, Ella…"

"Why are you stopping?! There has got to be more!" Rouge interrupted.

"Can I at least have a drink? My throat is so dry." Ella as giggled as she drank her hot chocolate. She let out a soft sigh. "So back to where we were…"

After that night, Sonic and me met up a couple of times. We went to the café and walked in the park. My feelings were growing stronger for him everyday. Then one night, I got home early and heard someone knocking on the door. I went outside to see who it was and then I was pulled behind a bush. I was about to scream when I saw that it was Sonic…

"Be very quiet." He whispered.

"Why? What's happening?" I whispered back.

"I heard Eggman's robots are causing just south of here and I have to go take care of that Egghead." he told me.

"Are some lurking around here?"

"Nope, none at all."

Then why are we hiding?

"Just for fun." He grinned.

I rolled my eyes and scoffed with a smile. I was about to get up when a gentle grip was upon my shoulder which held me down.

"But Ella, I do have something to tell you.." he looked right in my eyes. I saw some sadness in his eyes, something was wrong, "I won't be here anymore…"

I felt my heart sink, "Why?..."

"If I stay, Eggman will end up terrorizing this part of town and I don't want anyone to get hurt, especially you…" his voice turned into a whisper, "Ella, I know the times we fought in battles together and the past few days weren't much but I've grown feeling for you and I believe it's beyond a crush. I love you, Ella…"

He said them. The words I'd been longing to hear. I placed my hand on his cheek and slowly closed the space between us. His lips moved with mine. The feeling was sweet and I never wanted it to end, but now I was with Sonic and I knew after this night, he would not forget me…

Amy P.O.V

I felt jovial yet jealous for Ella. When I was younger, I would chase Sonic around asking him to return my love. I look back and see a silly child whose feelings took control of head. I loved being single, I felt so free and I always denied that any guy would stroll along into my life. But as the years went by I grew lonely. I had my friends and I loved them but I need someone to call my own, to love, to laugh with and cry with.

"I noticed you and Sonic in your in lovely dovey scene by the cross light, what was that all about?" I smiled.

Ella gave a small smile, "Well, Sonic took me aside and talked with me. He apologized for not keeping in touch and said that he still loves me and will always be by my side. Sonic knew I was upset with him for being away for so long. 1 year separate and we still love eachother…"

- - -

Author: This was the song Ella played at the café: .com/watch?v=ZTK3FCHYrJY


	3. Chapter 3: Am I Here?

The atmosphere in the room was relaxing. This was the first time I've been in Sonic's home. The Superbowl was on and they all watched it at the edge of their seats. I took no interest in watching it. I stood in another room watching the world through a large window. The different colors of fall brought peace to me. I began to remember…that just 4 years ago and 2 years before this present date…I was back on Earth again, alive…

_4 years ago…_

Where am I?...Am I dead?

I opened my eyes slowly- Ugh! I closed them again quickly. The light is so strong, it hurts. I tried opening my eyes again and I fought against the blinding light. My eyes finally adjusted and they wandered around. My view was to the heavens and I was laying at the bottom of a huge tree with colors of reds, oranges and yellows. I was laying flat on the ground, I couldn't move my limbs at all.

"I guess my fall from space must have shocked my nerves." I thought to myself.

I stayed on the soft grass, unable to move for 3 days. The weather was cruel, the cold air was painful but I took it all in. Through the days I tried to get my nerves to start working again. Finally after 3 days, I was able to move my index finger, soon then my thumb, then my middle finger. Slowly my body began to get back to normal. Soon I was able to sit up, stand up and slowly begin to walk.

After practicing, I was finally able to see where I was. It was amazing and beautiful, I knew I was back on Earth once again. Suddenly a sharp pain went through my body, I grunted in pain. If I were to stay outside for another night, I was a goner. I had to find shelter and I knew someone who'd help me.

It was beginning to get darker, the wind was picking up. The pain going throughout me forced me to stop and take a few breaths every now and then. I was so weak and tired, I had to hurry. Running only made the worse, so I walked the rest of the way.

Finally after almost half an hour I made it. I knocked on the door as hard as I could. My panting was heavy and my vision was getting blurry. I heard her grumble from inside, her footsteps were getting closer. The door swung open, and there stood my long time friend, Rouge. Her eyes shot open and her lips released a gasp.

"Shadow?!" she screamed.

My knees finally gave way and I let the world collapse around me…

"TOUCHDOOOWN!"

I heard the screaming from the other room. I sighed and went inside. The game went into half-time, the guys were slouched all over the couch so I sat in the single seater.

"Shadow, you're missing what heck of a game!" Silver told me.

I simply shrugged, "I'm not really interested in this."

"Sonic, I noticed you talking with Ella, what's been going on?" Knuckles smirked.

"We're together now." Sonic gave a small smile.

Of course, those two were made for each other.

"What about you, Shadow?" Knuckles asked.

I raised an eyebrow at him. What is he up to?

"You got anyone special?" Knuckles grinned.

"…No" I whispered.

"…What about Amy? You guys look pretty close-"

No...I don't want anyone in my life, I was an independent being.

"…the look in her eyes was so promising and-" Knuckles continued.

Shut up! Shut up! My mind was screaming! I wasn't interested in her. I felt time slow, Knuckles' lips moved so slowly…I could still hear him speak, word was spearing through my heart. Why talk about this pointless topic? I was going to go mad, stuck like stuck! I couldn't finally couldn't take it anymore…

"..and then the both of you will-!"

"Enough!" I stood up and stared right at him. My voice echoed through the house and it was completely silent, except for the TV commercials.

"Enough, Knuckles." I whispered with venom at the tip on my tongue. He was confused yet worried, I couldn't blame him, he didn't understand. I turned towards the front door and walked out.

My hover shoes crunches the dead leaves, I don't know for how long I walked. The colors and autumn scent seemed to calm me down. I was deep in thought. I didn't want to let anyone in life because I was worried I would lose them, just like Maria…we loved each other like brother and sister. She didn't deserve to be taken away. But that is the past and I vowed to put it behind me.

"Rose…"

The image of her seeped into my mind. I shook my head. What is this trickery? Suddenly I started to feel something different, I've never experienced it before. The images of her kept going through my head. Her laugh. Her body. Her voice. Her eyes.

"Stop!" I yelled and pressed my hands at the sides of my head. I mentally slapped myself. Minutes…minutes for her to get out of my mind. My hands fell to my sides and I let out a sigh. The damn feeling was gone.

I looked around realizing I stood in the woods, tainted with autumn. I sat by a tree, admiring the view. I was about to let sleep take over me, when a thought came into my mind, my eyes opened wide. Was this true?

"Am I here again because I was given another chance? Am I here to live the life I never had?..."

- - -

Author (ivoryebonykeys): *sigh* Another chapter done. Good job, ivory. *pats myself on back*

Sonic: I-V-O-R-Y-E-B-O-N-Y-K-E-Y-S…what the heck?

Author: Break it down, idiot. IVORY-EBONY-KEYS. As in a piano.

Sonic: Uuuh-huh..


	4. Chapter 4: Heart and Soul

Rays of lights peered through the spaces of the blinds. I was sitting up in bed, staring at my bare feet…then I looked at my alarm clock. I had woken up earlier than I usually did. I raised my arms in the air and stretched, getting every ounce of sleep out of my joints. I looked back at the blinds again, the sunlight was begging to be let in. I got off my bed and ripped the blinds open. The light blasted through the room, lighting the darkest corners and bringing me peace.

I ran downstairs and opened the other blinds, my house was filled with light. I flipped the TV on and watched _Juiced!_ as I ate my cereal and fruit. Once I was done, I loaded them into the dishwasher and put the TV's volume on max, so the house was filled with music. I figured I'd do some cleaning for a while before my jog. I sweeped the floors and dusted the furniture as I danced along to the music. I put my cleaning tools away, ran upstairs and threw on my jogging shorts, a black jacket, my ankle high sneakers and pulled my quills into a messy ponytail. I switched off the TV and jogged out the front door.

This was always part of my morning routine. I'd jog through the park and back home. I love the park, watching children play, artists paint out the view, couples walking together and summer picnics. The peaceful moment was interrupted by faint thuds coming from beyond the park boundaries. I'd couldn't help myself, but follow the strange noises.

I pushed tree branches out of my way. Sticks and leaves rustled under my feet. The noises began to grow louder, I was close. I had never been beyond park boundaries. My stupid actions worried me if I was lost.

A green light caught my eye. I walked a little further and the noises grew louder. I pushed a few branches out of the way…

Shadow…Eyes closed in concentration, fists by his sides. His hands were wrapped in bandages and were sprinkled with white powder. His eyes snapped open to reveal his burning eyes. He rubbed his hands together and got into a fighting position.

As swift as the wind, he punched a tree and most of its bark crumbled off. He jumped a few feet in the air and roundhouse kicked a branch right off. He landed on the ground first before the branch did. His moves were so powerful yet, he fought with grace.

I realized that the glow was coming from his Chaos Emerald, its light was alluring. Shadow fought some more, he didn't damage most of the trees, fortunately. He suddenly stopped…standing still in the middle of the clearing. I got the feeling I should leave, so I turned away and…

"Rose…"

Dammit! He caught me. Typical, he always knew if a presence was near him, his senses were amazing. I turned to him, his back was still towards me.

"I hope I did not scare you, I did not know I had company." he spoke, finally turned towards me. His handsome face and perfect figure was killing me inside. That stomach-twisting-heart-racing feeling came back again.

"I'm sorry I interrupted your training." I said shyly, looking down. I felt so stupid to watching him like…a creeper. Ugh!

"Not at all…um, about yesterday" he said, rubbing his neck as he looked down, "I'm sorry I didn't say much, I was just so shocked."

"Well, you're here, I'm here, we can talk now." I said, biting my lip hoping he would say yes.

He gave a small chuckle, "Alright, let me get my things." he said. His hands were a little bloody, so he let the bandages stay and placed his gloves over them, picked up his Chaos Emerald and walked along with me.

"So where were you for the last 2 years?" I asked him.

"Travelling…mostly here and there around the world, sometimes I visited the ARK." he told me, "What about you?"

"I've been here the whole time. I never thought we would all meet each other. Just remembering that moment brings peace back to me again." I said smiling..

- - -

She must have been so happy when she saw us all together. I felt ashamed of myself that she was all alone for 2 years while everyone was busy. But now we are all here, I am here and I won't let anything happen to her.

"Shadow, do you know how to get out of here?" she asked with worry in her voice. For comfort, I held her hand in mine. Her petite hands were so warm against my cold, wounded hands.

"Yes, don't worry, we'll be out soon." I assured her. Were my eyes fooling me? I noticed a blush grow upon her fair cheeks, I secretly gave a smile.

We walked around in silence, I needed to listen to where we were. Our exit was close, when I heard the soft laughter of children. We finally walked out of the woods and were back in the park. Rose's face glowed in relief and she sighed.

"Thank you, Shadow" she whispered.

"Anytime, Rose" I said as I let go of her hand. I heard her gasp, she was looking at my blood stained gloves; I was glad none of my blood stained her gloves.

"Shadow, let me help me.." she said.

"I'll be fine, I don't want to cause any troub-"

"Both your hands are wounded. How can you clean them both out?" Rose cut me off. I sighed, she was right…

I lifted her off the ground in my arms, took out my Chaos Emerald and teleported us to my home through Chaos Control.

- - -

The experience was scary and vivid. The speed made me dizzy and my eyes travelled everywhere. Nothing seemed real, I couldn't see Shadow at all. The insanity finally stopped, but my head couldn't stop spinning. I shook my head a few times and everything started coming back to normal again. Shadow placed me gently on the couch.

"Maybe Chaos Control wasn't the best idea." he said. The dizziness started to fade. It was my first time to ever experience Chaos Control.

"This is usual for a beginner, maybe it won't be so bad the second time." Shadow smirked.

I give him a funny look. As if I would try that again. I never knew he liked to joke around, I gave a small giggle. My attention was brought to his hands and I stood up. He placed his hand on my shoulder.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked with concern. I nodded to assure him and he sat back on the couch.

- - -

The rose hedgehog made her way over to the washroom and opened the mirror cabinet. It contained all the necessary toiletries and a first aid box. She grabbed the box and exited the washroom. Her eyes wandered around the house, she stood in the living room. Carpeted floor, a black couch complimented with red pillows. Pictures of night and day hung upon the white wall and a TV set sat on a metal stand with a few DVDs and CDs . She made her way over to the male hedgehog.

Taking her place beside him, she placed the box on the glass coffee table and took out what was needed, a roll of clean bandages, a bottle of cleaning alcohol, scissors, metal clips and cotton balls. The ebony male watched as she laid out the materials.

She slowly took of his gloves. His bandages were covered with dried blood and fresh blood was forming from his knuckles.

"I wish he did not take his training all the way." Amy sympathized in thought as she stroked his hands. "I have to take them off…" she whispered.

Shadow looked at her, he knew he has no other choice, "Go ahead…" he looked away.

The process was slow and painful, Shadow winced as Amy slowly tore off the dried bandages from his wounds. Blood still flowed and ended up staining her gloves. She knew he was in pain, her heart sunk every time, he grunted. Finally, the bandages were completely off. Amy tossed them into the nearest waste basket. She took a cotton ball and soaked it in cleaning alcohol.

"This is going to sting a bit." she looked at Shadow apologetically.

Shadow put his hands in hers and she began to stroke the cotton across his wounds. He hissed and gritted his teeth as the alcohol burned his wounds. Amy was finally done…

She wrapped his hands gently with new bandages and clipped them to stay. Shadow closed and opened his hands and smiled.

"Thank you, Rose." he said looking her in the eyes.

"Anytime, Shadow…" she smiled, a blush creeping up her cheek, "I'd better go, I've some errands to run, now get some rest."

Shadow looked down at his freshly aided hands, she had done a great job. His eyes shot open when he felt a pair of soft lips press against his cheek. They were so warm and gentle. The feeling came back into body again. His face felt so warm and his heart raced but he was still as a statue. Amy pulled away.

"A little something for being so brave." she whispered into his ear.

Amy walked over to the door, waved goodbye and walked out. She gave a sigh, and then giggled when the image of Shadow's blushing face came to mind.

Still sitting on the couch, Shadow sat still. His blush grew brighter, his mind still fresh of the sensation and slowly began to breathe. The images of Amy ran through his mind, Shadow closed his eyes and let Amy take over his heart and soul.

- - -

Author: Aw man! I've got 2 assignments to do over the break! *head hits desk*

Shadow: Have you even started?

Author: Well…sorta. Procrastination really sucks!

Sonic: What do I care! I don't get homework! *smirks*

Author: Shut up, Sonic…

Shadow: *to the readers* Ivory is new to the whole fanfiction stuff, so give her a break…*loads shotgun*

Author: Shadow, have I ever mentioned how much I love you?


	5. Chapter 5: To Her Aid

Amy threw her keys on the coffee table and slumped on the couch. She found it hard to believe that she had kissed Shadow. There was something in her that took control of her emotions. She couldn't help but think of what Shadow might say or think.

"Stupid! Now you can't face him again! Good job, Amy!" she said as she slapped her forehead. Simply pushing it aside, Amy ran upstairs to take a shower.

She threw her towel over the shower door and closed it behind her. Slowly turning the shower knob, the water began to spray out. Amy put her hand out to test the temperature, if it was lukewarm. When it was to her content, she stepped in. The warm water relaxed her tense body, emerald eyes wandered around the soap scummed glass door. Steam elevated into the air, condensation forming on the large mirror, fruit scents and bubbles flew around.

Taking a bottle of shampoo into her hands, she let the white ooze drip into her palm. Amy scrubbed against her fur, her long quills and behind her ears. Content with herself, she turned up the temperature of the water and washed off the white foam around her slender body. Switching the shower knob off, she stepped out of the shower stall.

She stood against the long sink counter, lotions and fragrance bottles gathered in one corner. Wiping her hand across the mirror, she stared into her eyes. Her eyes traveled down her bare body and began to wipe her red towel against her body.

A black tank top, dark blue skinny jeans and her undergarments lay upon the edge of the bathtub. When she was done putting on the last of her clothing, she noticed a crack on the mirror.

"Where did that come from?" she said, raising her eyebrow. Her finger traced along the crack and it cracked again.

Amy began to back away in fear as the crack spread all over the mirror. She noticed there was pressure against the mirror and when it was not able to hold itself together any longer, it shattered into a million pieces. Amy watched in horror as the shards flew towards, she opened her mouth and screamed. The glass cut and sliced her delicate skin and she screamed out again in pain.

What she felt next, she couldn't believe. The ground below her feet began to shake. The lights flickered, walls cracked and glass bottles broke.

"An earthquake?!" she yelled.

Amy was thrown around by the violent shaking, her blood was leaving small trials along the floors. When she finally regained her balance, with all her speed, she ran toward the door. She quickly turned the knob and flung it open…

Nothing…absolutely nothing was in there…only pitch darkness. Until she saw a figure appear, standing in the distance. It turned toward her.

"Shadow?!" she screamed.

His eyes were consumed with fear, his hover shoes activated and he flew towards her.

"AMY! HOLD ON!" Shadow yelled out.

The ceiling behind her was behind down. She tried to jump out of the room but her feet wouldn't move, the floor was starting to come apart.

"SHADOW, PLEASE HURRY!!" Amy screamed louder with tears streaming down her face. She held out her hand.

He gritted his teeth and gave in all the energy he had. He was right there…hand reaching out to her…but it was too late…

The floor gave way and the darkness swallowed Amy whole, only for Shadow to hear a blood-curdling scream.

- - -

"AMY!!" I screamed.

I was panting heavily and cold sweat covered my face. I looked around only to find myself back on the couch where I was left. I couldn't help but worry about Amy. I pushed myself off the couch , ran to the phone and called up Amy. No answer, just voice mail. I disconnected and called Rouge.

"Hello, Rouge speaking."

"It's Shadow, I need Amy's address." I said, panting from the fear that began to crawl about me.

"43 Cardinal Street…why? Shad-!"

I smashed the phone back on the charger and ran out the door. I hovered as fast as I could, the world around me blurred and sped by. I finally entered the neighbor hood..

"45…44…43!" I skidded to a stop and ran through the garden. The door wouldn't open, I rang the doorbell and banged my fist on the door. No answer. The seconds felt like minutes and I couldn't take it anymore. I backed up and kicked the door open. Metal parts clanged against the floor and bits of wood flew everywhere, I had to replace Amy's door. I ran and looked for her downstairs.

"Amy! Are you here?" I shouted, hoping she would hear me.

I checked the basement and backyard. Nothing. I went back inside and ran upstairs. I checked all the rooms, then suddenly I felt warm air from down the hallway crawl against my body.

I slowly walked down the hallway, not letting my guard down. The air was getting warmer. I finally made to the door, I turned the door knob and flung it open. It was Amy's room and there was so much moisture in the air. There was another door and what caught my eye sent ice down my spine. There was steam seeping out from the bottom of the door.

I opened the door and was burst by steam in the face. It was so hot and I was completely wet. I switched the exhaust on and went inside.

"Amy!?" I said, wafting the air as I called for her.

The steam began to clear and I noticed that it was coming from the shower stall. I opened the glass shower door and gasped at what I saw before my eyes. There she laid being pelted by water, with a soaked towel over her body and sprawled across the floor; she looked lifeless.

I gathered her in my arms and ran over to her bed; I gently laid her on the soft bed. How long has she been in there?! I checked her pulse, it was faint. I took a washcloth, soaked it in cold water and placed it on her forehead.

"Amy, wake up! It's me, Shadow! Please, Amy!" I began to stroke her hair.

She wasn't moving at all. I pulled out my phone and called everyone, telling them of the horrible occurrence. When I was done, I looked back at Amy. There was no color in her face, her quills were tosseled everywhere and her breathing was weak.

"Amy, I'm so sorry I wasn't able to get to you in time." I said, caressing her warm face.

I went back to the washroom, filled a bowl with ice cold water and placed it on her dresser. I wiped the cloth across her face, neck and arms: I performed this at least 3 times. My hand formed into a fist and crashed down and the dresser.

"Please forgive me, Rose.." I whispered.

"Shadow?" I heard a female voice speak.

I turned around and there at the door way stood Rouge, Knuckles and Ella.

"Amy?!" Ella cried as she ran over to Amy's side, tears running down her face.

Rouge felt Amy's forehead and cheek, "She's starting to get a fever."

I heard more footsteps coming down the hallway.

"Shadow! Wha-!" Sonic choked on his words when he saw Amy.

"Amy.." Blaze whispered.

Footsteps and voices echoed through the room. I just stood there, staring at Amy's pale face. I felt myself crumble, a ringing in my ears zoned everything out; I felt so miserable. I kneeled down next to her body and held her petite hand in mine. I pressed my ear to her chest and listened; my heartbeat was slow.

"Amy, please be alright.." I whispered.

A hand fell on my shoulder.

"Shadow, you have to come downstairs. Let the girls handle Amy." Silver told me.

"No, I can't leave her." I whispered.

"Shadow, please! You have to do and relax, you've done so much for today." Ella said, as she wiped her tears away.

I looked at her, she was one of Amy's best friends and I could trust her and the other to aid her. I turned away and followed the guys downstairs. I sat down on the couch with my head in my hands. Amy sprawled across the floor like a corpse haunted my mind, I feared the worst would happen.

"Shadow…" Sonic sat down across from me, "you're blaming yourself for nothing. You have to believe that Amy will recover. She has gone through things mush worse than this, she's a strong girl."

"She'll pull through." Knuckles said, patting my back.

I closed my eyes even tighter, they were right and I had to keep faith in Amy's recovery. Sonic phone rang and he flipped it open.

"Hello?...That's great! We'll see you soon." he said.

"Who was that?" Silver said, raising an eyebrow.

"Tails, he's coming over to check on Amy. Boy, are we lucky to have him?" Sonic smiled.

"But he's a mechanic." Knuckles said.

"Yes, but he studied medical care over the last few year. He's a smart kid and he'll be able to help Amy." Sonic told him.

We sat downstairs for at least half an hour, waiting for Tails. My ears listened in on what was going on in Amy's room; I heard the rustling of clothes and splashing of water. Finally, the door bell rang. Sonic walked over to the door and as soon as he turned the knob, it came right off. He gave us all funny looks, then he looked at me.

"Don't ask." I told him.

The door opened and in stepped, Tails. He was different from the last time I saw him and that was at the ARK incident. He was as tall as Sonic, his eyes were a dark shade of blue and his facial features were not child-like. In his hand was the doorknob from the opposite side; he placed it in Sonic's hand.

"Long time, no see, guys." Tails smiled, speaking in a slightly deeper voice.

"Good to see you again, buddy." Sonic said, shaking his hand.

He came over to Knuckles and Silver and greeted then, then he came over to me.

"Great to see you again, Shadow." He held out his hand.

"You too, Tails." I said, shaking his hand.

"Now, I'd like you all to follow me." he said.

We all went upstairs and into Amy's room. The girls were all sitting beside Amy with tears in their eyes. They got off the bed and walked over into their lover's arms. I looked back at Amy, she was dressed in a large shirt that reached down halfway to her thighs but she was pale, sweat ran down her face and her breathing was weak. I looked away, it pained me to see her suffering.

Tails walked over to Amy and placed his black back pack on her dresser. He took out a stethoscope and check her heartbeat, he placed a thermometer in her mouth and felt her pulse. The room was silent, all that was heard was the tinkling of Tails' equipment. He took out the thermometer from her mouth and his eyes lowered; he stood up.

"It's not good…" Tails looked at us, "She's got a fever of 102, her pulse and breathing are weak and her heart rate is not normal. It's most definitely that she will go into a coma."

I stopped breathing and my heart shattered. A coma?! But...why?! No! I couldn't believe this! I shut my eyes and clenched my fists. Tears gathered at the sides of my eyes but, I held them back; I turned away from everyone. Ella held on to Sonic's hand even tighter and she quietly sobbed into his shoulder. I stood by the window and stared out into the darkening sky.

"But the proper treatment should help her." Tails said as he took out a syringe and a small bottle of clear liquid. Jabbing the needle into the thin layer covering of the bottle, he extracted the liquid. He flicked her finger against the syringe and gently inserted it into Amy's arm. I watched his actions through the reflection of the window.

"Now we just need to wait and see." Tails turned back to everyone, "…we should leave."

"Leave? She can't be left alone!" I snapped at Tails.

"Would you be willing to stay here with her, Shadow?" he asked.

"Wait a second! Why, Shadow? Can't one of the girls do it?" Knuckles shouted.

Rouge then, stepped on Knuckles' foot and he hopped in pain.

"I think Shadow would be perfect for the job." Rouge smiled.

"I agree, Amy will do fine with Shadow beside her." said Blaze.

"…Okay, I'll do it." I finally told them.

"Are you sure, Shadow?" Knuckles asked with sternness in his voice.

"I promise you, Knuckles, I will take good care of her." I assured him.

Knuckles turned on his heel and walked away. He did not have trust in me and I could understand that.

"I'm sorry about Knucklehead…" Rouge said, "But please take good care of Amy and if you need help just call."

"Don't worry, Rouge, I will." I said.

Sonic and Silver just game me a small smile and told me not to forget to fix the front door, I rolled my eyes and smiled.

The house was completely empty. I went downstairs and found some tools under the kitchen sink, I picked up the broken pieces of the door lock and began to fix the door. After about 20 minutes, the front door was fixed. I went back upstairs and sat on a chair beside Amy's bed; I held her hand in mine.

"Don't worry, Amy…I'm here for you." I said, stroking her hair.

My eyes shot wide open when I felt Amy give my hand a faint squeeze…

- - -

Author: *to the readers* Sorry, I didn't upload the next chapter, the assignments have really been killing me.

Knuckles: You drew the Fairly Odd Parents for an election poster! How is that even-!

Author: Hey! I hooked you up with a hot character, okay! And don't even think of dissing the Fairly Odd Parents!


	6. Chapter 6: An Angel

There she lay, unconscious, body in a graceful position. Her eyes fluttered open, emeralds wandered about. Head throbbing and blurry vision, she tried to push it away. The pink hedgehog sat up and looked around, confused; it was complete darkness.

"Where I am?" she whispered in to the darkness.

Amy pushed herself off the ground and began to feel at the emptiness, trying to find something worth helping. She began to walk around in the darkness, looking everywhere, but there was nothing to give her a clue of her location. Her hands travelled down the white summer dress that hugged her body, she smiled at the tiny designs that flowed down from her right hip. A pain from her arm caught her attention, she watched, shock stricken, as the wound slowly healed. The memory of the freak earthquake shot through her mind and her eyes shot open.

"Shadow?.." Amy whispered.

Shadow was just about to catch her, but he was too late; she ran about in the darkness shouting for him.

"Will you stop! Your yelling is really giving me a headache!" a voice spoke.

Amy froze and prepared herself for the worst.

"Who was that? Show yourself!" she yelled out.

"Calm down, just give a sec!" the voice said, sweetly.

The voice echoed from everywhere, Amy was nervous but stood her ground for this stranger to come out. Suddenly a spark appeared and it began grow bigger and brighter. Amy shielded her eyes from the blinding light; a figure stepped out and the light faded out.

The figure was a female with a slender body. She was a bit taller than Amy, much taller…as tall as a 12 year old human. Gold locks rested on her shoulder, blue eyes that sparked like the sun hitting the deep, blue ocean and an angelic face.

"Hello Amy" the girl said with a gorgeous smile.

Amy stood awestruck at the girl's beauty; she looked like an angel.

"Hello…you remind me of someone. Have we met before?" Amy asked, poking at her memory.

"We haven't met before, but I'm sure you've heard of me…from Shadow?" she replied.

Amy's head shot up to the girl's face and finally realized who this girl was. She was the one Shadow always kept in his heart, the friend and sister he loved and lost..

"Maria.." Amy mumbled.

"Uh-huh!" Maria grinned.

"I can't believe it's actually you, I never thought that I'd being meeting you! Oh yea, why am I here? Where I am? Is Sha-!" Amy stuttered

"One at a time!" Maria giggled.

"Okay, where am I?" Amy asked.

"You are in a secret part of yourself, you're quite safe."

"What do you mean, "secret part of yourself?"

"This is a part of yourself that you've been pushing away. Possibly…affection?"

Amy thought about it and it was true, she had been pushing her feelings away and doubting herself.

"..Am I dead?" Amy gasped.

"No! No! You're just unconscious" Maria laughed at Amy's silly reaction.

"Unconscious?! Why?!"

"You went a little overboard with the temperature of the shower water; your body couldn't handle the heat, so you fainted in the shower."

"Bu-..But I got out of the stall and the earthquake and Shadow!!" Amy said frantically.

"Calm down, Amy!.." Maria placed her hands on Amy's shoulders, "After you fainted, your mind quickly went into dream mode, so here you are."

"So…this is all a dream! The earthquake?"

Maria nodded her head.

"That's good, I just need to wake and get out of this prison." Amy said, giving a sigh of relief.

Maria looked away with a worried look on her face; Amy noticed the frown.

"Amy…don't take this dream lightly." Maria said.

Amy gave Maria a confused look.

"What do you mean, Maria?" Amy asked, raising her eyebrow.

"I came here to warn you, the future isn't bright and you have to be careful. Please Amy, promise you right now that you won't do anything foolish." Maria pleaded.

Amy held Maria's hand, "I promise you and I'll always keep that in mind."

Maria's face lightened up and she hugged Amy. Amy understood why Shadow saw Maria as a true friend; she suddenly gasped.

"Maria…my body! Is it still in the shower stall?!" Amy stuttered.

Maria gave a smile, "No, you were saved."

"Saved? By who?" Amy asked.

"Shado-!"

"Urk!" Amy choked; her cheeks grew a shade of red. To have Shadow see her body! But…to be saved by him was a different feeling.

"Don't worry, you weren't naked" Maria began to laugh, "Is there something I don't know? You're blushing as red as an apple."

Amy mentally slapped herself out of her fantasies; "It's nothing" she smiled.

"Oh come one, please tell me! It's not like I'm going to tell anyone, I mean…" Maria said as she whistled and pointed up into the endless heavens.

A giggle escaped Amy lips, "Okay…I've fallen for Shadow."

Maria's face was ecstatic, a big smile graced her face, "Oh my gosh! Amy, have you told him?"

"Well no…I doubt he'll let anyone into his life after he lost you" Amy stared down at her bare feet.

"That's not true, remember he promised to put his past behind him?" Maria said, stroking Amy's quills.

Amy looked at Maria's promising face, unsatisfied.

"Okay, if I give you proof, will you believe me?" Maria said, placing her hands on her hips.

Amy looked at Maria, unable to understand her, "Um-"

"Great!" Maria cut in, "Okay, so you have to listen to whatever I say, alright?"

"What are we doing?"

"Getting in touch with your mind."

Amy grew even more confused.

"I mean that if you are able to get in touch with your mind, you'll be able to get in touch with your senses." Maria said, excitedly, "Now close your eyes."

As instructed, Amy shut her eyes. She wasn't suspicious of Maria, Amy trusted her.

"Now one by one, I'm going to tell you to concentrate on each of your senses…now concentrate on your cutaneous receptors!"

Amy put her mind forth, giving it her all.

"Come on Amy, you can do it!" Maria exclaimed.

Slowly, Amy began to feel the cool air against her body and warmness against her right hair; she felt her quills being stroked.

"This feels really weird." Amy whispered to Maria.

Maria giggled, "Let's move on to hearing, concentrate!"

Amy shut her eyes and concentrated once again, it was difficult for her. She clenched her fists and focused. Suddenly, she was surrounded with noises of sorts; the chirps of birds, ruffling of clothes, rustling of leaves and familiar voices.

"Now you can hear everything from your ear's and feel everything from your own skin." Maria said, grinning.

Amy smiled, "Thank you, Maria."

"Pffft! No problem" Maria grinned, "Go ahead and experience the fun."

Amy shut her eyes and focused on her senses; she felt like she was back home.

- - -

There was a conversation between everyone and I felt a lot of negative energy…anger, fear and worry. I heard the voice of someone I've never heard from before.

"She's got a fever of 102, her pulse and breathing are weak and her heart rate is not normal. It's most definitely that she will go into a coma." a male voice spoke.

What?! A-a coma!? No! I can't fall into a coma! I'll be stuck here, maybe even forever!

"But the proper treatment should help her."

What was going on? What treatment? I heard the tinkling of glass and felt my arm being held; a sharp pain shot through my body. It hurt so much! My arm went numb. What the hell did he do?!

"Now we just need to wait and see… we should leave."

"Leave? She can't be left alone!"

I gasped, it was Shadow's voice and I was so happy he was alright. His voice contained frustration and worry,

"Would you be willing to stay here with her, Shadow?" the mysterious spoke again.

"Wait a second! Why, Shadow? Can't one of the girls do it?" a male voice echoed through the room.

Then I heard a metal clang and Knuckles shout in pain.

"I think Shadow would be perfect for the job." A husky, female beamed.

"I agree, Amy will do fine with Shadow beside her." said another female voice.

"…Okay, I'll do it."

Shadow?...Take care of me? I let out a sigh, happy one. I never knew he cared about me so much.

"Are you sure, Shadow?" Knuckles asked with sternness in his voice.

"I promise you, Knuckles, I will take good care of her." Shadow assured him.

Then I heard footsteps walk out the room, Knuckles did not sound happy. I heard everyone talk with before they left, then the door closed. I don't know what was going on but Shadow did not speak or breathe, waiting for him felt like an eternity. Finally I heard footsteps walk towards me, Shadow let out a sigh and I heard the noise of a chair being pulled up; my right hand felt so warm in his grasp.

"Don't worry, Amy…I'm here for you." Shadow whispered.

My heart pounded against my chest, he really cares about me…I had to let him know that I heard him! I had to respond. I opened my and there stood Maria with a smile.

"Well, how was it?" she asked.

"Amazing, but I need to do one more thing. I need to show Shadow that I heard him." I mumbled.

Maria began to think, her index finger lay upon her rosy lips and her eyes wandered in thought. Her face lightened up with an idea.

"I got it!...You're going to have to focus on touch, it's really difficult to focus on" she smiled.

Ignoring the warning, I closed my eyes and concentrated on touch. It was so hard, I was getting worn out.

"Come on Amy! Let him know! Let him know you heard every word he said to you!" Maria blurted out.

Maria's words echoed through my head. I gritted my teeth and clenched my fists; I felt my nerves activate and with the little strength I had, I faintly squeezed his hand. I fell to my knees, breathless; I only hoped he felt me squeeze his hand. I heard him gasp and his grasp pulled away from me.

"Amy?...Amy! Open your eyes, please Amy!" he plead turned into a whisper.

Tears flowed down my cheeks like waterfalls, Shadow was in so much pain and I felt so much depression flow through him. I wanted to let go of this place and wrap him in my arms; suddenly I wasn't able to feel or hear anything, I wasn't strong enough to focus on my senses.

"I'm so sorry, Shadow…" I whispered in between sobs.

Maria wrapped her arms around me and I cried on her shoulder.

"I just want to go home…"

- - -

Author: Woo-hoo! Chapter 6 is up!

Shadow: Finally! You left everyone in suspense!

Author: Well, I didn't do it on purpose…or did I?

*dramatic music*


	7. Chapter 7: Miracle

The nightmare haunted me every day, every minute of every hour. For nights, I couldn't sleep; the memory of the emptiness and Amy kept my mind awake. I watched Amy lay there, in a peaceful slumber and it was confirmed that she was in a coma. She reminded me of Sleeping Beauty, but no kiss will awaken her. This was no fairytale, this was a nightmare.

Every morning, Tails came in to give a check-up on Amy, I watched him with caution as he treated her. After at least 20 minutes, he'd be done and leave. I never told him about Amy's last touch, she heard me and wanted me to know that she was fine. I wish I said more to her, something meaningful for her to remember. Over the last days, she made me feel something more than just that little spark I felt towards her. I always felt like a coward, not being to confess my feeling to her; I remember the first time we met after the ARK incident…

Two years ago…

"Oh God, my head!" I whispered.

My eyes slowly began to open, the bright light causing me to squint. I laid upon a soft bed in a white room with black wood furniture and a window beside my bed. It was morning, light filled the room. My ears picked up on the sound of footsteps approaching the door. It cracked open and in came Rouge, she smiled.

"Good morning, sleepy head." she chirped.

"Long time, no see." I said as I looked at her.

"Mm-hmm, so when did you get here on Earth?" she asked.

"I woke up somewhere, 4 days ago. I'm not sure when I landed here"

She didn't say anything, but simply sighed.

"I've called the others over…" Rouge gave a small smile.

"How have they been?" I asked.

"Great…just great" she said, looking away.

"Sure?"

"All but Amy…when you left us, she was a mess for months. Amy isolated herself from us and stayed in her room, just laying on her bed and staring at the ceiling. Then we noticed Amy's other side of her personality when Sonic tried to give her a little pep talk.

- - -

_A soft knock on the door echoed through the empty atmosphere of Amy's room, she did not move a muscle or let out a breath. _

"_Amy? It's Sonic, we need to talk."_

_Amy did nothing, but the knocking grew louder._

"_Amy, please open the door! You can't stay in there forever." Sonic said, his voice growing louder._

_Amy squeezed her eyes shut, her head pounded from all the knocking and everything seemed to be a blur which kept her calm and serene for all these months._

"_That's it; I'm coming in, Amy!" Sonic shouted._

_He jiggled the doorknob but it was locked. He backed up and planted his foot on the door and with one swift kick, the door flew open. His eyes shot open at the state of the room, it was dark but not pitch black and books and glass shards were scattered on the floor. Amy looked like she was in a trance, her quills were messy, there was no sparkle in her eyes and trails of her tears glistened down her cheeks. He picked up a half empty vodka bottle off the floor and placed it on her dresser._

"_Amy…" Sonic said, as he sat on her bed, "you have to stop this; you're killing your self."_

"_Leave me alone, Sonic, living like this is my choice, not yours. If I wish to kill-"Amy was cut off when Sonic grabbed her shoulders and held her to sit up._

"_Enough, Amy! What's wrong with you!? You were never like this, talking nonsense!" Sonic said sternly._

"_Back off, Sonic! Accept the fact that things are different now and I'm different too."_

"_Yes, you are different…for now. You're not the Amy we knew; you're acting like a fool who won't even accept the fact that Shadow is gone! Let him go, Ames!"_

"_I don't know what the hell you're talking about!" Amy whispered, darkly._

_Sonic grabbed her hands with an attempt to pull her off the bed but she pulled them back and punched Sonic in the gut. He backed up, grasping his belly and gritted his teeth._

"_Amy, what are you doing?" Sonic gasped._

_Amy snarled as she kicked him down and pinned him to the floor, her eyes glowed into something wicked. Sonic pushed her off and got up, he dodged a punch but as fast as he was, he pinned Amy against the wall._

"_Amy...listen to me. You can't let that incident get to you, you have to be strong and let it go like the rest of us." Sonic whispered._

"_I can't, Sonic! Shadow means so much to me! It's too hard..." Amy said as she began to sob._

_Sonic pulled her into an embrace and helped her walk out the room._

_- - -_

"She was angry, sad and almost injured Sonic but he was strong enough to face her and help her wake up from her torture." Rouge said with a small smile.

I saw her cry for me to stop, the sadness, fear, it was all in her eyes. It pained me to see her like that and after 2 years…she must have never forgotten the incident. What did she feel when Rouge called her? How did she react? My ears picked up on the door bell ringing.

"Excuse me." Rouge said before exiting the room.

My first time seeing everyone after my near death experience. What will they say? Whatever came my way, I had to accept it. The footsteps grew faster and louder. The tense was growing on me, they came up the stairs, down the hallways and finally outside my room, the door slowly opened. There stood Knuckles, Blaze, Silver, Ella and Rouge.

"Shadow…" Silver whispered.

"Um, hi.." I finally spoke.

They walked over to me, asking all kinds of nonsense and hugging me. As if I had a choice, my body was still healing and I had to stay put. I noticed that the only people missing were Sonic and Amy…

"Where's blueboy and Amy?" I asked Knuckles.

"Sonic is handling Eggman, he said he would gone for awhile, but Amy…I'm not sure where she is." Knuckles mumbled.

"She's probably on her way right now!" Ella said, bleaming.

I have Ella a small smile, it felt great to be back but I had to talk with Amy.

An hour passed…Amy still hadn't shown, everyone stayed for lunch and left, Rouge was downstairs. She told me that she was finally in a relationship with Knuckles and at times they had their ups and downs.

I felt stupid being cooped up in here! I had to get outside. I moved my head around, curled and uncurled my fingers and bent my joints. I sat up slowly and swung my legs over the bed. I stood up but my knees gave way and I fell, I held the side table for support and stood up again. Step by step, I walked carefully and finally made it to the door. Before I turned the knob, a thought came to mind…

"If Rouge catches, I'm so screwed and for sure I'd fall down the stairs." I whispered to myself

I looked over to the window across the room and smiled. I slowly walked over to the side table, opened the draw and pulled out a pen and paper.

_Gone out. Be back soon._

_-Shadow_

I placed the note on the pillow, hopefully this will lighten the scolding when I got back. I opened the window and poked my head out, the ground was 9 feet from the window. If I were to jump in this condition, I'd definitely just be a pile of broken bones. I looked at the roof and strategized my drop, it all came to me.

I stepped out on to the roof, holding on to the window pane so I wouldn't slip. I had to be fast with this idea then suddenly…

"Shadow?..."

I heard the voice I had been waiting to hear, an angelic voice echoed through my mind. I looked down and there she was…Amy Rose. I snapped out of my thoughts and I placed my finger upon lips letting her know to be very quiet. She gave me a funny look and backed away a little.

I concentrated on my strategy, I pushed me self off and ran across the roof, jumped on to another roof, skidded to a stop and jumped off towards a tree. Grabbing a branch, I flipped a few times before I jumped into another branch and then another 'til I was finally on the ground; I landed in front off Amy…

"You haven't changed one bit, Shadow the Hedgehog." Amy said, grinning.

I took her hand and ran, going at a pace were Amy would be at my side. Once I was sure we were out of the neighborhood, we stopped by some trees to catch our breath…well, for Amy to catch her breath. Suddenly her arms wrapped around my neck and pulled me into an embrace.

"Shadow, I've missed you so much…" she whispered.

I gave a smile and wrapped my arms around her waist.

"I've missed you too, Rose." I whispered.

She pulled away and motioned me to follow her; we walked together in silence, listening to the world around us.

I held her hand in mine, "Amy, about the ARK incident, I'm sorry that I had to leave you and everyone else."

"Why are you apologizing? You had to do what you had to do, right? That was fulfilling Maria's promise." Amy looked at me; a smile grew across her muzzle.

"Rouge told me about what you went through after I left." I whispered, looking at our feet hitting the ground.

"Oh…she told you about that? Well, I was a fool to not realize that what happened to you was not just the worst thing in the world but the best thing for you, Maria and us. I pulled through my troubles and was myself again and I'm just happy that you're back." she chirped.

The burden lifted off my shoulders and my heart began to beat at a fast pace; this feeling was like fireworks.

"I know this amazing place and you'll love it! I mean, if you're up for it?" Amy said, biting the side of her lip.

"Hmmm…I wouldn't mind." I said, shrugging.

She pulled me along with her, her quills swung from side to side and she gave a small giggle; I've never seen Amy this ecstatic.

"How come didn't show up with the others, Rose?" I asked.

"Well…I know everyone would be crowding you with questions, so I thought it would be lest if I came when everyone had left. You know, for us to be alone and talk and then I saw you standing outside Rouge's house's window." she giggled, "what were you trying to accomplish?"

"Being cooped out is the worst and I just had to get outside." I said, giving a laugh," so, where is this place, Rose?"

"Just beyond those trees." She pointed to a large population of trees.

We pushed through the thick bushes and were finally in the woods. We were surrounded by autumn's colours that popped out from everywhere, the further we walked, the taller the trees seemed to get like they were reaching to the heavens. Autumn's scent was everywhere and the crunching of leaves below our feet echoed through the woods.

We came to a hill, I noticed how steep it was and wondered how Amy was able to make it to the top but it was covered by another barrier of thick bushes but there was a hole bursting with sunlight; I couldn't see beyond it.

"Amy, you were able to climb all the way up there?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She giggled, "Yep! It was pretty fun. Just hold on to the trees for support and sliding down hill is not the best experience, unless you want to take the easy way, running at high speed to the top like the loser you are." she teased me, smirking.

"I'm up for a challenge." I said, grinning.

We slowly walked up the hill, gripping on to the tree trunks and branches. I stayed behind Amy, watching her carefully.

"How fun is th-!" Amy gasped as she foot slipped.

Before she fell, I grabbed her by the waist and held her up. Our faces were inches away and we stared into each other's eyes; I never noticed what an amazing shade of green Amy's eyes were. I snapped out of my thoughts and helped her regain her balance.

"Thank you, Shadow." she whispered as she dusted off her jacket.

"You've really done this before?" I asked.

She nodded. I didn't want anything else to happen to her, so I lifted her off ground and held her in my arms.

"Close your eyes and hold on"

I kicked my feet off the ground and everything was left behind. I looked down at Amy, she was holding on to me for dear life, eyes tightly shut. The light was growing closer…closer and it burst out at us. I skidded to a stop and placed Amy on the leaf-covered ground; her breathing was fast.

"Wow.." Amy gasped and all she said.

"You okay?" I asked, tilting her head to look at me.

"Just peachy." she grinned.

A light chuckle escaped my lips, she sat up and I sat down next to her.

My eyes wandered around…I'd never seen anything so magnificent. The view stretched across the homes, woods and over to the horizon. The sky was blue as the oceans, clouds so soft you could sleep on one, autumn's colours were everywhere and the scent of sweet filled the air.

"It's beautiful." I whispered.

"I knew you'd love it!...After the ARK incident, I would come up here and regain myself. This place is like a sanctuary." Amy said.

Amy leaned her body against mine; I couldn't help but hold my breath. I looked down at her and she was in a gentle slumber; I couldn't help but see how lovely she looked. Her quills were now a few inches below her shoulders, her body was beginning to change in shape and pink tinted lips. A rose scent lifted off her body and filled the air around us; her face was so angelic in slumber. My heart was to race again, I felt at peace here with Rose. What was this feeling I am feeling?

- - -

My eyes slowly opened, I was back in Amy's room. My mind spun with past memories, some blissful, others dark. I looked over to Amy, through the times I've seen her, she was always different.

I noticed tiny rays of lights peeked through the spaces between the blinds; I walked over to them and pulled them open. The whole room was full of light, it glistened over Amy's body and she looked like an angel.

I sat down next to her on the bed and began to stroke her soft quills. Then I suddenly a warm presence by, I looked around the room…nothing. I felt a warm stroke against my cheek; I placed my hand upon my face and stood completely still. The presence faded, was I imagining things?

Suddenly, Amy's eyes shot open, her body jolted up and she let out a scream. My heart almost shot out of my chest, I shook my head to clear my head and calmed myself. I realized what had just happened and I wrapped Amy in my arms and embraced her as tight as I could. Her arms wrapped around me and she sobbed on my shoulder.

"Shadow, please don't leave me!!" Amy stuttered, frantically.

"Shhh, my Rose, I'm here." I cradled her in my arms," I'll never leave you."

I fought back the tears that were at the corners of my eyes. Amy's voice echoed through my ears, her soft touch against my body and her scent relaxed my tense shoulders. A miracle is a miracle and my Rose had awoken…

- - -

Author: School's a drag, I'm sick, and now I'm going to bed! Enjoy the new chapter! Goodnight, world!


	8. Chapter 8: Unexpected

I don't know for how long I cried but it didn't matter, I was back in my life again. Shadow cradled me in her arms until I calmed down. He was so warm and his pine scent sent me a trance; I had butterflies. My ears picked up on a sweet melody, it was so smooth and relaxing; Shadow was humming to me.

When I had finally calmed down, I sat up and looked into his burning eyes which sparkled.

"Thank you, Shadow." I whispered as I smiled.

He just smiled and moved my side bangs out of my eyes.

"And also thank you for staying with me when I was in my coma." I added.

Shadow's face was filled with confusion, he gave me a questioning look, "How did you know?" he asked.

I explained everything that I went through during my coma; everything from the earthquake to Maria. His face changed when I mentioned Maria.

"She's watching over you, Shadow. You've never lost her; she was always right beside you." I murmured.

He looked away and sighed, "I'm glad…Rose, can I tell you something?"

I nodded.

"The dream you had. Right after you left when you came over, I fell asleep and experienced the same dream as you. I was stuck in this world of nothing and I couldn't find my way out. Then I heard you, your voice was filled of fear and there you were, standing in a room that was crumbling down" Shadow said, looking into my eyes.

"What happened when you woke up?" I asked him.

"I rushed over here and found you unconscious in the washroom." he told me.

Oh God! You have go to be kidding! He saw me the shower stall! Naked! Cheeks began to burn, I was so embarrassed.

"Why are you blushing so madly?" he smirked.

That smirk made the butterflies flutter a little faster and I felt like something was caught in my throat.

"Oh! Um…well, I- um, never mind." I stuttered , snapping out of my thoughts.

Shadow smiled, hopefully he didn't know why I was blushing.

"I'm going to call up Tails" Shadow said, pulling out his phone, "Excuse me." and walked out of the room.

I felt all this energy flow through my body, I just wanted to jump out of bed and run laps. I decided to get out of bed and go get freshen up, I threw the comforter off me and pushed my legs off to the side of the bed. When I pushed my self off to stand, I fell down with a loud 'thud'. My legs felt like jelly, I felt like I had no legs to support me at all.

"Ow..." I whispered, rubbing my head.

'Amy!" Shadow shouted in shock.

He ran to my side and lifted me back on the bed.

"What were you thinking?" he asked darkly.

"I don't know! I guess I wasn't thinking." I said, shrugging.

"Damn right you weren't thinking! You just got out of coma, Amy! Do you think you'd be back to normal again?" He yelled.

I looked away from him; his eyes were so intense to look into, it was like looking at the sun. I hated it whenever he was angry, I wasn't afraid, it's just I hated whenever unnecessary trouble angered him. I heard him sighed.

"I'm sorry, Rose…I'm just worried about you and what I meant from before was that your body hasn't been active for a while and your legs have to get used to walking again. I'm sorry for yelling at you." He whispered calmly.

I looked back at him and brought his face to look at me.

"I forgive you." I murmured, smiling.

"Oh my God! Amy!" I heard someone squeal from the doorway.

There stood Rouge and Tails. Rouge's face was brightly lit up, she ran towards me and hugged me.

I'm so happy you're back!" She squealed again.

"Rouge, I've missed you so much!" I beamed, hugging her as tight as she did.

Then I saw Tails, he gave me a big smile.

"Hello Amy" he spoke.

"Tails! Is that really you?" I asked with a grin.

"In the flesh, glad to see you're back again." he smiled.

"You had us so worried!" said Rouge.

"Now, Amy, I'm going to give you a check-up, okay?" Tails told me.

I nodded.

He checked my temperature, my eyes, ears mouth, joints but when it came to my legs, he gave me a worried look.

"Well, she's perfectly healthy but it's just her legs, she's going to have to be taught how to walk again so she can get used to it." Tails said.

"So what are you going to do?" I asked.

"Well I'm going to put you through some training to get you to walk again." he replied.

"And I'll help Amy in any way I can" Rouge spoke.

Shadow smiled at me, letting me know that he would be by my side too. I was glad that with their help, I'd be walking in no time.

"Thanks, guys." I whispered.

"Okay, Amy, I got to do a few things and then we're done for today." Tails said as he searched through his sling bag.

He took out a small bottle of clear fluid and then it came to me, Tails was the one that was jabbing me with a needle! Damn him. I thought back to when I was in my coma, the pain and numbness of the treatment.

After Tails had filled the syringe with the fluid, he gently took my arm and inserted it into my skin. Tail smiled and disposed the syringe into a bio hazardous container he kept with him; my arm began to get a bit numb. Tails began to bend my legs, he continued this a few times. Rouge and Shadow talked quietly amongst themselves.

"Well, we're done for today." Tails said.

"Thank you, Tails." I grinned.

"Can I talk with you, Shadow, privately?" asked Tails before he left the room.

Shadow nodded and followed him out the room.

Rouge walked over to the doorway and yelled, "Oh! By the way, don't come inside until we tell you too because me and Amy are going to be talking in private too!"

'We are?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

She shut the door and sat beside me.

"Since I'm here is there anything you need me to do, since the guys are away?" Rouge beamed.

Rouge read my mind, I thought about it. I was too embarrassed to ask anything from Shadow or Tails.

"I'd like to get cleaned up." I murmured softly.

I yelped in shock when I found myself lifted off the bed by Rouge and towards the washroom; she settled me down on the edge of the bath tub.

"You are going look like you've never been in a coma." Rouge giggles as she searched for some toiletries.

I looked into the mirror and saw that I was a complete mess. My quills were everywhere, my eyes were red from the non stop crying and my lips are chapped. So Rouge helped me take a bath, brush my teeth and quills. Rouge rummaged through my closet and found some clothes for me. I pulled on the white lace top and black skirt. Rouge suddenly showed up in my face with a smug grin, I looked down at her hand and she held a few makeup products.

"No way, Rouge!" I shouted.

"Oh come on! If you really love me, you'd wear just a little lip gloss! Please!" Rouge begged with a twinkle in her eye.

I sighed and puckered my lips, Rouge gently applied some. I looked into the mirror again and saw Amy Rose; I smiled and she smiled with me.

"And we are done, you look like yourself once again." Rouge sighed with a smile, "Do you need anything else, Ames?"

"No thanks, Rouge and…thanks for helping me. I've missed you a lot." I said, holding out my hands for a hug.

Rouge grinned and gave a gentle hug, "It's been hell without you, Ames. We've missed you terribly."

I could hear the emotion in her voice; she pulled away and wiped the corners of her eyes. She lifted me of the edge of the bath tub and back on the edge of my soft bed.

"I'll see you later, if you ever need me, give me a call." Rouge told me as she waved goodbye.

I felt so refreshed after a bath. My hands ran down my arms, it felt so soft and smooth. I noticed Shadow standing by the doorway; his eyes stared right into me and he stood as stiff as a statue.

Before I stepped back into the room, I saw Amy sitting on the edge of her bed. She was…different, her presence was glowing. Her face was so sweet, the bright colours came back to her face, her eyes sparkled when the sunshine hit them and her lips were so moist and pink.

She smiled at me, I felt an arrow shoot through my body, I snapped out of the trance.

"What did Tails say?" her angelic voice echoed through my ears.

"He told me that you'll be walking soon and I can help you with training." I told her as I walked towards her.

"That's great." She whispered as a blush filled her cheeks.

I smiled at the sight of her pink cheeks.

"So since I was in a coma, how long was I out for?" Amy asked.

"Hmmm…almost a month." I murmured.

She gasped out loud and clasped her hands over her mouth; she was completely taken back.

"A mouth?" she asked in shock.

I nodded, I found her reaction to be…amusing.

"I can't believe this…but wait, does that mean that you stayed by my side for a month?" She spoke.

"Yes…" I whispered.

It took her a moment to speak again.

"Shadow, that's so sweet. I'm so sorry that I held you back- !"

Before she expected it, I bent down, pressed my hands down on the bed and gently pressed my lips against hers. I felt shock flow through her body then she finally gave in and kissed me back. Her soft lips brushed against mine as she wrapped her arms around my neck. I felt my heavy burdens fly off my shoulders and my heart was about to burst out of my chest. This felt so right.

His pine scent and taste aroused my sense, I wanted more of him. He began to deepen the kiss and our breaths could be heard. Fortunately before I lost control, he slowly pulled away; he placed his forehead against and gave a smirk.

After we caught our breath, Shadow tilted my chin up to his view.

"It was my pleasure staying by your side." He whispered and with that he kissed my forehead.

"Pizza?" he asked, before he left the room.

I simply nodded and he walked off. I threw a pillow at my face and squealed with joy! It was such an amazing, passionate kiss! My heart was still racing and I couldn't stop grinning like a fool. Shadow was mine and I was his…I couldn't have wished for anything better than this.


	9. Chapter 9: Under My Wing

The days passed by and Amy was starting to show signs of recovery. Tails would come in almost every day and perform the usual the usual check-up and training. Finally one day Amy was able to move both her legs and Tails was impressed with her incredible determination. I'd help her often to gain stability in her legs in order to stand by holding her up and she'd hold on to me for support.

"Alright Amy, now you're going to have to tell me when to let go." I said soothingly.

"Yes, but I don't want to fall." she whimpered.

"Don't worry, I won't let you fall." I winced from her tight grip.

Tails explained to me that she needed to find her own ground and the support. A few times a day, I'd perform this exercise with Amy so her mind will remember how to get her legs to function again. Firm yet gentle, the exercises would go well.

"Concentrate all your energy on your legs." I said firmly

She would take a few minutes to relax and then..

"Go!" she whispered as she let go of my shoulders.

I loosened my grip on her and her legs betrayed her. I caught her before she hit the ground and she sighed in frustration.

"This is hopeless! I can't do it, Shadow." she huffed in defeat.

"Yes you can, now we're going to try it again." I said as I carried her off the floor again.

She shut her eyes again and relaxed. Her body wasn't tense and I could feel the energy flow through her; she was concentrating well.

"Go.." she whispered.

Once again, I let go but suddenly she pushed me away from her reach and I watched her fall. I eyes shot open after what I saw; Amy was on one knee.

"I failed, Shadow. I've done enough." she whispered.

I kneeled down in front of her and tilted her chin up to my eye level.

"Look what you've managed to do, Rose." I cooed.

She looked down and was shocked by what she had done. She looked back at me with a sweet grin and I carried her off the floor for another try. Amy concentrated again and ordered me to let go and once I did, she began to stagger. She concentrated again and started regained her balance and before I knew it, she was standing.

"I did it! Shadow, I did it!" she squealed, lunging at me with a hug.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and nuzzled into her hair; she giggled at my gesture.

"Thank you, Shadow." she said, smiling.

Within the next 3 days, her awkward stagger turned into an elegant walk.

"I'm very proud of you Amy, you've done magnificently and I think you're ready for a test." Tails said.

"A…test?" she questioned.

"It's not going to be rough. We're going to get you back into the skilled fighter you were." he said as he took down some notes.

I smiled at her to assure her everything will be fine but I was worried inside. I was to test her to the best of her abilities and we had to start today. When Tails left, I carried Amy off the bed, went downstairs and out into the front yard. She gave a soft sigh when she saw the autumn tainted scene.

"It's beautiful." she sighed at autumn's beauty.

"I can agree." I sighed as I looked at her.

Amy glowed in the afternoon sun and her sweet scent filled the air intoxicating my senses.

"Where are we going?" she asked looking at me.

"Somewhere wonderful." I smiled, "Now close your eyes and hold."

My hover shoes activated and sped ahead with the world behind. The colours flew past us and a light began to come in view; we were close. I skidded to a stop and carefully placed Amy on the ground. Her eyes were still closed and her grip was tight.

I slowly opened my eyes and smiled; we stood in a large field. The long grass glistened in the afternoon sun, trees of different colours surrounded us, the pale orange skies were painted above us and best of all…it was just Shadow and me.

'Let's get started, shall we?" said Shadow, guiding me to the middle of the field, "We're going to start with some jogging, I'm sure you'll do fine with that."

"I guess, I did jog every morning before I fell into the coma." I thought to myself.

Shadow and I began jogging around the perimeter, I was doing great. Halfway through the jog..

"Wonderful, Amy! Now we're going to go a little faster." Shadow said as he began to pick up speed.

I began to slowly to get faster but Shadow was still ahead of me. I would often loose my balance at times but regained after my staggering.

"Come on, Amy!" Shadow shouted from a distance as he ran.

"Let's go Amy! Pick up the pace!" I whispered to myself.

I saw myself getting faster and closer to Shadow, I felt a powerful surge of energy flow through. I saw a smirk on his face and he activated his hover shoes; he shot ahead of me.

"You cheater!" I shouted as he chuckled.

"You're going to have to speed up, Ames! Focus on your speed!" he said through a smile.

I relaxed my mind and focused all my energy on my legs; I felt a spark go off in me and suddenly I felt like I was running on air; I didn't let the sensation break my focus. I zoomed forward and found myself a few inches from Shadow. I saw a proud smile upon his muzzle and we ran for a while. Suddenly I lost control of my speed and found myself rolling and flipping violently across the field; I heard Shadow yell out my name. Everything went dark.

"Amy! Can you hear me?" I heard a velvet voice speak in panic.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Shadow kneeling down next to me and I heard him give a soft sigh in relief.

"How do you feel?" he asked.

"Just peachy.." I gave a small laugh.

He gave me a serious look and nodded his head in disbelief. I regretted what I said.

"I'm sorry. I just didn't want you to get too worried." I sighed, "Please don't be angry."

A small smile curved on his face and nodded his head again.

"Anything hurt?" he asked soothingly as he caressed my cheek.

"My head just kills" I sighed as I rubbed the back of my head, "but it'll wear off soon."

"We should take a break, let's just relax for now." Shadow said, smiling.

"Fine with me." I sighed and flopped back on the soft grass.

He gave a small chuckle and laid down next to me.

"I'm impressed, Rose, I've never seen such power." he smiled.

A warm blush crept upon my cheek and I intertwined my fingers with his.

"Have you ever tried cloud watching, Shadow?" I asked soothingly.

"Hmm?...No, but I have star gazed with Maria when I was on the ARK." he said as he stared at the small puffs of white clouds.

"That sounds amazing, I would love to try it." I said with a soft smile.

"I'm more interesting in this 'cloud watching' you speak of." he said smiling back.

"Well…that cloud looks with a thunder bolt." Amy pointed out at the orange sky.

"Huh?.." I said, raising an eyebrow.

"Come on, Shadow, look up there and tell me what you see." she giggled as she nudged me.

I looked back up at the sky and tried to shape the clouds into… something, I guess.

"I see a rose." I said, smiling.

"Well I see a dinosaur and it's going to eat up your little rose." I laughed.

"What are you talking about?" I asked as I sat up, "That's you!"

A fit of laughter erupted from my chest as she pushed me she down.

"That dinosaur is starting to sound like you." she said through her laughter.

I stopped laughing and gave her a serious look. She looked worried, but I had to hold my laughter in.

"What did you say?" I whispered as I crawled closer to her.

"Nothing. I said nothing." she said.

I pushed her back on the ground and began to tickle her. My fingered travelled all over her sides and her sweet laughter echoed. She wiggled and squirmed everywhere trying to get me to stop.

"Stop, Shadow! I beg of you!" she yelled out as she laughed.

"Say that you're the dinosaur!" I smirked as I continued to tickle her.

"Never!" she yelled.

I began to tickle her even harder and her laughter grew louder.

"Say it, Amy! Say it and I'll stop!"

"I am the dinosaur! I am the dinosaur!" she shouted.

Content with her surrender, I stopped tickling her and plopped back on the ground. She continued to giggled and her arms were over her sides; I gave a light chuckle. Amy placed her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around her. Her eyes were starting to close.

"Shadow, was life different for you on the ARK?" she asked.

"..I wouldn't say it was very different, I had my family up there and many memories of them, but here on earth, I have you and everyone and you are like my family." I said, turning to Amy.

"That's so sweet." she whispered.

I gently kissed her forehead before she fell into a sweet slumber, I would have to have to say that Amy glowed more brighter than a million stars. The sunlight started to make me sleepy and before I knew it, I too fell asleep with Rose in my arms.

Author: It's been such a long time since the last upload and I apologize for the long wait. Enjoy the new chapter.  
I do not own any of the SEGA characters except for Ella.


	10. Chapter 10: Warrior

The couple slept peaceful on the soft grass, their chest rising up and down and sweet dreams filled their minds. The dark male began to move and his eyes slowly opened to the darkening sky. Carefully he unwrapped his arm from the pink female, gently to not awaken the young beauty.

His crimson eyes scanned the field; the scene before him was odd and out of place. The darkness added a sense of suspension in his mind and was sure to send a chill down someone's spine. His ears picked up a soft moan of the rose hedgehog as she sat up.

"Wow, we slept for quite awhile." she yawned.

Shadow nodded to her comment.

"It's getting late, I'd better get you home." he said as he walked over to her and lifted her up in his arms.

He held out his Chaos Emerald and his command echoed through the dark forest and with that they were gone.

"Goodnight, Rose." he whispered as he pulled me in for a kiss.

My eyes fluttered open from the alarm clock and slapped it to stop as I lazily sat up. I dragged myself into to washroom, cleaned myself up and rummaged through some clothes to get ready for my training. As I pulled on my jacket, I noticed the dark morning from autumn's cloudiness and shuttered at the thought of the ice cold air in the morning.

"Quite the beautiful day." I commented sarcastically.

I walked downstairs and turned on the television set as I quietly drinking my peppermint tea. There had been a robbery in the city and our hero was, of course, Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic had definitely changed, he was no as cocky as he was when he was younger. With Ella in his life, he spent more time with her instead of congratulatory meetings and ceremonies at the White House.

I switched off the program once I heard a knock at door and quickly pulled on my sneakers as I opened the door to reveal Shadow.

"Ready for some training?" he asked with a smirk.

Today was the last day of my training and I was positive was going to pound every bit of skill and strength back into me.

"Let's go." I said as I locked the door.

"Let's start with a brisk jog." Shadow said, as we walked out of my garden.

We jogged past the houses, the gardens and out of the neighbourhood; our speed beginning to pick up for a jog to a run. We ran until we were out of sight from the humans and our speed grew faster. Shadow's shoes activated and he shot ahead of me, just like last time. I focused on the speed, the strength and energy and soon enough, I was flying. Leaves were pulled off from the trees as we ran past them. As soon as we entered the forest, I saw myself getting closer to Shadow. We zigzagged past the trees, jumped over bushes and rocks and bounced off trees often as to increase speed. We finally made it out on to the field.

"Good job, Amy." Shadow huffed with a smile.

I held up a thumbs up and huffed out thank you with my other hand on my knee; he gave a soft chuckle.

"Now that you've finished the element of speed, it's time to work on your skill." said Shadow with some seriousness in his voice.

"Skill?" I asked.

"Wait here." he said and walked away in to the darkness on the forest.

My muscles were still sore from yesterday's training but I took it all as a good sign that I was being stronger. I heard something snap and crash in the forest and I hoped that Shadow was alright, the worst scenarios flooded my mind. Finally after a few minutes, Shadow's figure stepped out into the light; unharmed and in his hands, he held two branches. He threw one over to me and he took a defense stance.

"Skill is what you'll need in battle and with all elements, you become unstoppable." he said.

"So wait…I have to fight you?" I asked.

He nodded and I hesitated, I had never fought Shadow before, he was extremely strong and an excellent fighter, how could I possibly defeat? There was quite a distance between us, the sun was high above and the long grass moved and glistened with the morning dew around us. I got into a fighting stance and braced myself.

I ran with all speed towards Shadow but he dodged out of the way. I turned on my heel and swung my branch at him but he dodged it again. I kept swinging and jabbing my branch toward him but he continued to dodge as fast as possible. Suddenly he dropped to the ground and then swung his leg under my feet and I fell.

_Funny I could say, he swept me off my feet._

"Be prepared for anything." Shadow exclaimed as he backed away.

I got back on my feet and charged at Shadow once again; he too charged at me, branch by his side. I brought my stick down on Shadow but held his stick up to block my attack. We were neck-and-neck, pushing each other back and forth with our branches, I grit my teeth to put on more force but since I saw that this strategy wasn't going anywhere, I quickly placed my foot on Shadow's chest and kicked him off. Shadow tried a roundhouse kick but I quickly ducked. I kicked off the ground and flew over Shadow, landing softly on the grass. I swept my branch under his feet and he plopped on the ground. I knelt down on him and pushed my branch to him neck; he gave a devious grin and he flipped me over and before I knew it, he was the one holding me down and swiftly gave me a small peck on my lips. I kicked him off me and we were both on our feet.

_What a tease._

I threw my branch away and began to throw punches at him; he dodged them all. He grabbed my fist, spun me around and held my arm behind my back with his other arm over my neck.

I bent down and spun out of his reach, grabbed my worn out weapon and pointed the sharp edge of it at his neck; his branch was a few inches from my neck. We both stood panting with adrenaline and tension in our eyes and after a few minutes, we lowered out weapons. A smile slowly grew across Shadow's face ran his fingers through my quills.

"Welcome back, Amy Rose." he whispered.

The chapter was short but trust me, alot more is going to happen further on and he chapter kind of reminded of the Hunger Games, LOL. ENJOY!  
I do not own any SEGA characters but Ella.


	11. Chapter 11: Strange

A few months later…

Her fingertips ran down the fingers of my left hand, head on my shoulder and plump lips apart. Her fingertips moved to my right hand and they slowly traced down the lines. I smiled at her soft, serene face; her bright, green eyes moved up to my face and smiled into my eyes. Her hand brushed against my cheek and gently brought my lips to hers for another kiss. With Rose, I'd rather be here than anywhere else, her taste was sweet honey and fireworks exploded through my body. The day started with a stroll down the park and here we are sitting down against a large oak tree with each other in sweet kisses.

We pulled away and Rose leaned back on my shoulder and began to run my finger across the snow. The snowflakes gently flew in the wind and the sun was setting in the horizon bringing the sky into a deep blue and pink clouds.

"Well, I'd better get going, Rouge and Ella are probably waiting for me." said Amy with a gentle smile.

"With it being Christmas Eve and all, last minute shopping is the best." I teased her as I got up with her.

"How could I resist not being around you?" she whispered as she turned around and hung her arms over my shoulders.

I gave a small chuckle before giving her a peck on her forehead and seeing her off. Keeping Rose busy gave me enough time to get her something special and plan a night to remember.

I ran past all the different brightly lit stores until I finally saw the dimmed figures of Ella and Rouge waiting by a lamp post.

"Amy! Great, you're here!" Ella beamed.

"The place is beautiful! Look at all the little shops and restaurants." I said with glee.

Every corner was lit with lamp post and was decorated with Christmas wreaths and. Shop windows were laced with red and gold banners beautifully scripted with gold letters saying 'Merry Christmas', hollies and hung from the inside, and little nutcracker dolls were in almost every shop. Icicles hung above and played like chimes when the wind blew by. Coffee shops let out delicious aromas of gingerbread coffees and pastries.

"Little Belgium is a really popular tourist site and it's gorgeous by Christmas." Rouge chirped.

A small shop at the end of the corner caught my attention, it let out an inviting vibe that I felt like I was in a trance.

"Let's go in there!" I told the others.

We walked into the little shop called 'Frambroise' and it was lovely. Pretty, model dolls sat under a little Christmas tree, books were stacked, the fireplace was flickering with warm glimmers and crackled and the atmosphere smelt like roasted chestnuts.

"What is something Shadow would like?" I asked myself as I walked around.

Rouge's cell phone began to ring and she quickly looked at Ella from the corner of her eyes and walked out of the shop. I began to wonder why they were acting so strangely but I pushed it away and began to look around again for Shadow's gift.

It was difficult looking for Shadow's gift, some trinkets were so small, too big, too fancy or too expensive; I needed something wonderful. Suddenly I felt my overcoat being tugged; I looked down and saw a tiny figure. He was a white hedgehog with big, gorgeous auburn eyes, and was about 4 years old; he was probably the shopkeeper's son since the only people in the shop were me, Ella whereas Rouge was outside.

"Hello there." I chirped as kneeled down to his level.

He didn't say a word, he just held slowly held out his tiny hand which held a red satin handkerchief. The child motioned for me to take it and I carefully took it from and unwrapped the handkerchief. I gasped in shock, it was beautiful and perfect for Shadow.

"Thank you so much.." I said, smiling, "where did you find these?"

The child said nothing again, I figured that he was shy and wasn't interested in talking to strangers, so I thanked him again and walked towards the shopkeeper.

"Did you find what you were looking for, Ames?" said Ella as he spun a little green gift bag in her hands.

"Yes, it's perfect. I'll just cash out and we'll head out." I assured her.

The shopkeeper was a timid, young hedgehog, about mid-20s, silky beige fur and auburn eyes like the child I met.

"Hello, I'd like to buy there." I said placing the gift in her hand.

I looked towards the door and saw Rouge and Ella conversing outside and waved at me when they noticed me. I waved and was startled by a loud CLINK!

The shopkeeper has taken off the red handkerchief and gasped in fear, letting the gift fall onto the counter.

"Is something wrong?" I asked, suspiciously.

"Well, since today is Christmas Eve, why don't I just let you have it for free?" she stuttered as she brought out a small box, pretty wrapping paper and ribbons.

"No, no! I couldn't, I can't!" I stated.

"Don't worry, my dear, it's perfectly fine!" she stumbled on her words as she swiftly wrapped the gift.

"No, I can't-"I replied seriously.

"JUST TAKE IT!" she yelled and through the gift at me.

I was taken back by her actions and luckily caught the gift and the door opened in a rush.

"Is everything alright?" Ella asked.

Ella's eyes were filled with worry whereas Rouge's eyes were piercing daggers at the shopkeeper; they had seen everything.

"Please…" the shopkeeper whispered.

"It's alright, Ames, let's go." Ella smiled.

I walked quickly out of shop with Rouge and Ella without taking a last look at the strange shopkeeper. Soft flurries swirled around us and we decided to get warm up at a nearby coffee shop. As I continued to walk down the street with the other, I felt another tug on my overcoat; it was the little white hedgehog again. Ella and Rouge stood in front of a café admiring the young boy who stood before me.

"You two go in and get settled. I'll be there in a minute." I replied.

I turned my attention to the child and knelt down to his level again.

"Merry Christmas." he responded in an angelic voice as he held out a purple, velvet pouch with a tag attached by gold ribbon.

"Thank you, love." I chirped as I pulled out a little red bag of Christmas sugar plums, "Merry Christmas."

The child slowly took the gift in his tiny hands and smiled. My smile slowly disappeared and my face was covered with shock with what I saw; it was so unreal that ice ran down my spine. The child's beautiful auburn eyes brightened into white irises and him pupils rolled to the back of his head.

"Your eyes!" I gasped.

His smile disappeared and he ran back into his mother's shop. I stood up and ran into the coffee shop and was greeted by Rouge and Ella's questioning looks.

"Are you alright, Ames? You look...stunned." Rouge questioned.

"Um, yes! The nutcrackers were creeping me out." I babbled, nervously.

We ordered three hot chocolates and settled down at a table in the corner. The aromas of coffee calmed me and the delicious pastries made my mouth water.

"Who was the little boy outside? He was looked so sweet." beamed Ella.

"That was the shopkeeper's son; he wanted to return the glove I accidently dropped." I said.

"What was that woman's problem? That was...strange." Rouge said, tensely.

"We were bargaining and I was being stubborn with the pricing so she got angry and lost it. Oh well, I finally the holiday shopping done." I replied.

The young waitress came back with a tray of large cups of hot chocolates with whipped cream floating with a white chocolate drizzle. She carefully placed them down and we thanked her as she smiled sweetly and walked away.

"So will you be able to come over tomorrow?" Rouge asked Ella as she sipped her chocolate.

"Mhmm!" Ella agreed licking the cream off her lips, "will you be needing help with the decorations?" Ella insisted.

"That'll be great! Thanks. What about you, Amy?" Rouge asked.

"I'll be there." I responded.

"So…how are things going with Shadow?" Rouge gleamed.

"Great as usual, nothing new." I muttered.

"Question. Why were you so occupied for the last few days?" Ella questioned.

"Shadow and me spent a lot of time together…a lot of dates." I grinned with a small laugh.

"Oh…well the cancels out the second idea." Rouge replied smugly.

I choked slightly on my drink as I blushed madly, Ella patted my back as she glared at Rouge.

"No! No, Rouge! Nothing like that!" I exclaimed.

"I was joking, Amy!" Rouge chuckled, "besides, when the new year rings in you and Shadow will have been together for a year, haven't you thought of…?"

I shook my head. Shadow did not seem to be that kind of person who would go too fast in a relationship.

"Can we please talk about something else?" I asked, still blushing.

"Well, Rouge, how has your job been at G.U.N?" Ella pointed out quickly.

"Nothing special, it's pretty boring. It's odd that Eggman hasn't shown any activity in three years. I'm sure he's got something up his sleeve." Rouge said as she drank her chocolate.

"Gives us a good idea to keep our eyes peeled." I replied.

"Well, give me a head start on any activity. If I get the journalist job, I can get the big scoop." I beamed.

"Eggman or the story?" Rough chuckled.

* * *

Two stories in one day and it's 4:15am! Thank god for Christmas holidays! Yeah, it's mostly girl talk but shit's going to go down soon. ENJOY!


	12. Chapter 12: A Global Matter

I silently entered my home with the haunting thoughts of the young child's eyes. I had never seen anything like it; I was consumed with fear and it sent shivers down my body. The eyes reminded me of a corpse, but how could it have happened? It wasn't normal or I was just stressed from the holiday madness to the point that I could hallucinate about a child's eyes rolling to the back of his head. I decided to push the matter aside and relax with some food and entertainment.

I hung up my coat and walked towards the kitchen with the little bag the child had given to me. I read the tiny tag and in scripted in gold writing it said 'Taro Tea'; my favourite brew of tea. I poured the dried taro and boiled water into a large cup and the aromas of taro tea filled the room. As I poured the milk, I turned the television and plopped myself on to the sofa with my tea and snacked on some pretzels. The title of the breaking news filled up the screen and what I saw next would only change my life.

Scenes of fire and destruction shot past with people screaming in agony and the sky, a furious orange. A mid aged reporter ran along with the crowd while giving out her report about what was happening.

"I'm Kira Remmel and I'm reporting live from the north side of town which is being attacked by Eggman and his empire of robots." she yelled into her microphone.

I choked on my pretzels and stood up shaking in fear.

"The entire north side is burning under Eggman's fury and after three years of his inactivity, he is back! The mayor is requesting all civilians to evacuate-"she yelled before she was cut off by one of Eggman's robots and was mercilessly killed in front of cameraman and the screen went static; I had no hopes for the cameraman's survival. From the looks of Eggman's empire, it did look like three years of work.

Those poor civilians needed help and nothing was gone help if I just stood here paralyzed with fear. I needed to talk to Shadow first, persuade him to come along with me to the north but he would surely refuse for my well-being and would go himself, but I had to try. Suddenly I felt something on my shoulder and I let out a scream which echoed through the darkened house. I spun around and tripped over the coffee table behind me and fell with a loud thud!

I groaned in pain and rubbed my head. The figure began to get less blurry and I realized it was Shadow.

"Rose! Are you alright?" said Shadow.

"Shadow? Don't do that! You really scared me!" I said.

"Sorry, but I had to check if you were alright, after I saw that that monster was back." Shadow replied with venom at the tip of his tongue when he caught an image of Eggman on the screen.

"I was just about to go over to talk to you." I said, "We need to get to the north and help handle the situation and I won't take no for an answer!" I pointed out.

"Wha-! Don't be absurd, Rose!" Shadow said, shocked.

"Sonic, Knuckles and Silver are surely over there handling the situation, Rouge will be with G.U.N and Blaze and Ella will be evacuating the civilians. What are we doing?" I asked.

Shadow's face was emotionless and his eyes passed from me to the television screen, witnessing the horror erupting on the north side of town. He looked over at me again and sighed in defeat.

"We'll go but you aren't to leave my sight. If Eggman gets his claws on you, it won't be a pretty scene." he responded.

"Did Rouge fill you in on what he's doing?" I asked him.

"All I know is that he's constructed a powerful force shield around the north side so no one can get out." he said, "Chaos Control won't be powerful enough to penetrate through the shield, I can get us close to the western border and we'll have to travel on foot from there."

"That means that we should leave now." I gasped, "I've got to pack!"

Shadow pulled out his emerald and teleported home while I ran upstairs to pack my travel bag.

It was happening so fast, here I was living my peaceful life and out of the blue, it was just taken away. We couldn't fail; Eggman would mercilessly make the world bow to him and kill the innocent; probably repopulate the world with his empire and wipe out humanity.

I packed in a bunch of my warm travel clothes, and threw on my olive green pants, clipped the ends to my hiking boots and covered me myself with a white sweater and threw my overcoat on too. I looked around to see if I was alone and carefully took out a small, wooden box from my closet, dusted it off with gloves and opened it. It revealed about ten beautifully carved knives; they belonged to an old mentor I lived with when I was young and they were passed on to me before he passed. I carefully put them into the sheaths on my belt that were easily hidden by my coat and placed a larger knife into the sheath on my boot. I took a look at myself as I pulled my quills into a ponytail and did not see the old Amy anymore but a rebel.

I made my way downstairs to the kitchen and packed in a bunch of food and cartons of water and belted the bag shut. We hadn't heard the others in a while like I expected; what if I was just fooling myself with what I had proposed to Shadow with that they were already there? Did the force shield disable all communication to the north and they were trying to contact us? The worst scenarios ran through my head until I felt a comforting hand push a quill away from my face; I threw the bag over and saw Shadow ready with his travel pack and gear.

"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Shadow spoke.

I nodded my head and smiled, "I'd do anything to help the others."

He pulled me close to him and took one last look at my home seeing that I might not be back before Shadow summoned Chaos Control and teleported us away.

I crashed on to the soft ground of fresh snow and dead leaves and rolled into the large roots of the towering tree and I quickly got up which was a bad idea because it made the dizziness from the teleportation worse and made me fall back down again. I waited for a couple of minutes and regained my strength to stand up and looked around me to see a deserted mist filled forest.

"Shadow!" I yelled out, "Where are you?"

It was dead silent, all but the echoing of my yelling. The mist wasn't heavy but it was a disadvantage to tell foe from friend but I continued on through the forest, crunching my boots through the snow. Maybe the Chaos Emerald threw us off course, God knows if I'm even near the western border. I finally saw a figure approaching me and huffed in relief when the figure began to transform into Shadow through the mist.

"I found you! Thank goodness, I thought you were-"I cut myself off.

I was wrong, it wasn't Shadow. The figure had changed into another being; me. She limped towards me, bleeding profusely with her arms stretched out towards me.

"Help…" she whispered in a raspy voice.

My mind spun in confusion as I backed away trying to put everything together. If I didn't see Shadow, then he was probably somewhere else looking for me or hurt. Sonic had told me stories of the unnatural hidden in west and north, whereas south and east were under control. Her eyes were a glowing green, like mine but surrounded in a glow.

"You are not me." I whispered.

She stopped for what seemed like minutes and let out a monstrous scream as she lunged for me. I quickly dodged and broke up into a run through the mist. I looked back and saw that the figure had changed into a black ghost like monster flying towards me. Although I ran faster and faster, it seemed useless; it was as fast as me. I came to a sudden stop and swiftly flung one of my knives at the figure which speared right through the monster and flew up towards the dark sky, disappearing instantly. I ripped my knife out of the tree's bark and continued on through the forest.

"Shape shifters. If it was able to take Shadow's form then it probably came across him which means he must not be that far." I said to myself.

After a few long hours of searching, the moon came out with all its beauty and darkened my way through the forest. I brought out a torch from my bag and flipped it on in order to light the way; my search for Shadow could not stop.

A large crashing noise erupted behind me and I held the torch towards the noise with two knives ready.

"Who's…who's there?" I stuttered.

"Rose?" the voice whispered.

"Is that really you, Shadow?" I asked, sternly.

He chuckled, "Just me."

I held the torch closer towards the tree and found Shadow slumped against the tree with a rather large branch beside him.

"Did you fall?" I asked.

"Yes, but the snow softened the-"

I cut him off by wrapping my arms around him and hugging me close to me. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed my temple.

"I don't know how we got lost but thank goodness, I found you." I whispered.

"I couldn't have said it better myself, Rose. We should set up camp and press on tomorrow, you're dead tired." he replied.

We split up the broken branch for firewood and set it ablaze and nestled close next to warm up. I found comfort in laying my head on Shadow's lap since he insisted he take watch of the camp.

"Shadow, why were you in the trees?" I asked.

"I came across some shape shifters and they were quite…annoying to get rid of until I realized they needed the mist to strive so I decided to stay above the mist and the trees were the only option. When I saw your torch, I realized that it was you and it was too late to realize that the branch I had jumped on to was weak and I fell." he said as he twirled my quills in between his fingers.

"I never thought about the trees." I replied.

"You came across a shape shifter?" he asked.

"Yes, but at first, I didn't know it was. I was searching for you and I thought I was looking at you but it had shape shifted to resemble me. It tried to attack me but luckily I got rid of it." I said.

He stroked my hair and held my face to steal a kiss; it sent sparks through my stomach and I fell into a deep slumber as he pulled away.

I woke up to a sudden shaking, and it was not Shadow trying to awaken me; it was the ground. I sat up and saw the ground crack and shift and black smoke spew from the cracks. Shadow suddenly sat up and his eyes widened to the scene before him. There wasn't a minute to lose, he pulled me up to my feet and pulled me along.

We broke out into a run into the heavy mist before the black smoke could overtake our path. It was like a nightmare occurring before me, the earthquake continued along, uprooting trees, sending snow flying and darkening the forest. If Sonic had come this way, faced the tragedies and unnatural creatures, what were his strategies? Did he already know of west that would possibly make him go east?

The violent shaking sent snow flying around which almost looked like a snow storm, often hitting us with blocks of ices. Before the rocky debris was thrown about, loud explosions would warn us to take cover from the large hurling rocks which occurred often so I was not able to hear Shadow yelling over to me. The ground shifted below my feet, I turned my eyes to see Shadow's vaguely hidden form suddenly went flying forward disappearing into the white before my eyes; the ground had overlapped the ground below.

"Shadow!" I screamed out.

I jumped and kicked off a flying boulder and landed roughly on the snow covered ground. I ran towards where Shadow had fallen and I finally saw his unconscious body lying flat with most of his body covered in snow. I took off his pack and swung it over my shoulder, I slowly swung his arm around my shoulders and lifted him off the ground; I huffed at his weight.

"Lean on me and try to run." I said to him, hopefully he had heard me.

He gave a weak groan before I began to jog my way towards the border. It seemed like it took the slow hours of the world to get us through the earthquake but finally it began to stabilize and I could finally walk my way through. As long as Shadow was breathing, everything would be fine but I decided that we would rest when we were close to the border; we would figure out how to get through it later.

"Rose." Shadow whispered.

I stopped, "What's wrong?"

He pointed a shaky finger towards the sky. I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't notice the burning red sky ahead of us; we were close to the northern border. I didn't see a force shield but there's no underestimating Eggman; he had his tricks up his sleeve.

"I'll set up camp." I told Shadow as I carefully placed him in a comfortable spot in between some tree roots and fell to rest; they were large enough to easily hide him from enemies.

I started a fire close by him with whatever I could find around us and luckily some leaves to keep the fire going. I covered Shadow in my spare blanket and placed a container of food next to him if he got hungry; I sat myself down next to him and nibbled on my food. I looked to the blood red sky ahead of us and wondered how horrid Eggman's plans were; so horrid to make the sky bleed. Whatever he had in mind would be something we probably never faced; he was capable of so many things.

Shadow began to slowly stir and his eyes began to slowly open to reveal his brilliant red eyes. His eyes travelled around until he found me and gave a crooked smile as he raised his hand to caress my cheek. He suddenly jolted his hand back and gripped his forehead and yelled out in pain; his head had sustained injury unseen by my eyes. I pulled my bag towards and pulled out a few small bottles of blue liquid; ever since Eggman's attack years ago, his weapons gave part of humanity a disease from his radiation that seemed incurable. Luckily, most of the world scientists and doctors came together and after long months of work, they created an antidote called RN-3 or in simpler terms, 'Velani'. It cured anyone from the simplest bruises to the worst radiation infections.

Shadow continued to grunt and yell in pain, his eyes tightly shut; I moved on to hold his arms down which was pretty difficult. He became to show restraint but I finally pinned him down, quickly uncorked the bottle with my teeth and made him drain the bottle. I pulled my self away as I watched him begin to calm down and breathe normally, he opened his eyes again.

"You put up quite a fight." I said putting the extra bottles back into my bag with a laugh in my voice.

"I don't know what came over me." Shadow said, shamefully.

"Don't worry; I would have done the same thing. Probably put up more of a fight." I said teasingly.

He laughed and pulled me down next to him; looking sincerely at my eyes and gently caressing my cheek with his warm hands. I placed my hand in my pockets and a loving smile grew across my face as I slowly placed a small box in his hands, "Merry Christmas, my love."


	13. Chapter 13: Torture

A glowing orb grew visible to my eyes through the blood red sky which could only be the sun; staying longer in the forest would only make telling day and night difficult but I was sure no light could pass through the thick clouds above the town. My sleeping Rose lay nestled with a thick blanket in between the tree roots and I decided the search the arena for any unusual activity.

I trudged through the snow as I admired the new power bracelets Rose had given me last night; I had forgotten it was Christmas night. I remembered the night I had tried to sacrifice my life to save Earth and although Sonic tried to find my old bracelets, they were lost forever in space. They shone brightly in the weak light and they were delicately carved with tribal patterns. Guilt ran through me at times, remembering that Rose's gift was lying on my bed ready to be presented. Until disaster hit and her heart was set to help liberate the north; I saw the new woman she had become that night. She had saved me multiple times; on the ARK and from the searing pain in my head like a knife was cutting right through my brain. With each other, we have a better chance to survive through Eggman's mad plan; I made myself vow my life to bring Rose home safe.

I stopped beside a rather tall tree and decided to get a better view of the north from its height; I carefully climbed, using each branch to my advantage to jump higher. The crackling of the branch and breaking brake echoed as I crawled along and finally reached a decent higher and was taken aback by the scene before me. The buildings reminded me of the dark trees around me but they reflected a red glow from the sky and were twisted, blackened and contorted to unnatural shape. Fires broke out on almost every highway; homes crumbled erupting large clouds of debris and heavy robot personnel patrolled the streets. Although I see the robots, I don't see any sign of Eggman or Sonic; could it be possible he could be hidden in one of the contorted buildings along with Sonic and the others? Were they hostage? What else was most surprising was it was completely open; there was no force shield.

I dropped and skidded down the tree on to the soft snow covered ground to save my legs from more damage and jogged back to our camp. I found Rose beginning to stir and began to pack our gear into our travel bags.

"Back on the road, I guess." she yawned and stood up.

We threw on our bags and continued through the red lit forest; it was silent and cold. Luckily the town was close by but we needed to be prepared for the unexpected. I tossed a small rock from hand to hand while I thought about how we were going to get past the guards.

"Shadow, you're really quiet. Is something wrong?" Rose said, invading my thoughts.

"Rose, what I saw over those trees makes me believe that Eggman is more than a sick, mad man." I said.

She stopped and looked me dead in the eye, "You saw the town?"

"It's almost in ruins. I didn't see Eggman or Sonic and the town is heavily guarded with his empire so we have to keep our eyes wide open." I replied.

"I can only imagine how the town looks." she said as I skipped the rock across the snow.

Our eyes widened to the sudden flickering black from the swirling fire erupting a few feet away from us and quickly extinguishing itself. We looked at each other stunned and confused. I picked up a rock bigger than the previous and hurled it over into the empty space where it was consumed by the black flames again.

Rose was speechless with a look of hopeless in her eyes; I took her in my arms as she stared towards the north and I began to consider a possible weak spot in the shield.

How were Sonic and others able to get in? It absolutely no sense unless they were fooled by Eggman's invisible shield and were consumed into the inescapable shield.

_It finally dawned on me._

Consumed? Inescapable? We were fooled by Eggman's antics.

"Eggman may be a smart egg but his talent of deceit can come in handy." I replied as I picked up another rock and threw it over on to the shield, "Remember when Rouge said that it was a shield that can never let anyone out? Well, there is a way we can get in."

Rose's eyes begin to widen, "How can you come up with such a crazy idea?"

"If Sonic and the others were able to get it, it was through those flames." I said.

"What if Eggman's not been bluffing his invention and it does kill you?" asked Rose.

"I'll be the judge of it." I said, tipping my head to her with a smile as I began to turn away.

I felt a hand grab my shoulder and spin me around.

"You sure that fall didn't just make you go crazy? If it kills you..." she said before I cut her off.

"Like you said and I quote "I'd do anything to help the others." I said and turned around towards the shield.

I slowly raised my hand as I came closer and suddenly I felt like I had been frozen stiff and felt the black fire wrap around me and begin to pull me in as it quickly extinguished; rushed footsteps followed behind me. I felt my feet hit the ground roughly and the stiffness began to slow release from my muscles. I turned to see Rose finally emerge from the pool of fire and drop to her knees, dazed.

"What a sensation!" she exclaimed as I helped her up.

I looked around to see the horrific sight of the city as I had seen it from the trees but it towered up through the fog into the fiery sky. I don't know what Eggman had done to the city but he surely contorted it to be his in a matter of a few days; the home of a mad man. It was silent and too silent it was which brought an eerie atmosphere and the smell of gasoline sent a shiver through me.

"I don't understand! The front of the city should be heavily guarded right, Rose?" I asked.

She did not speak. I turned to find the empty forest but no sign of Rose; I felt a scream about to give way from my chest but instead as it creeps upwards, it catches hold of my throat and gasps of air are taken in. Suddenly I hear the snap of a gun, no.

_Guns._

* * *

I turned to see the loaded guns pointed to my head, ready to put a bullet through me. A twist of fear jolted through my chest before I felt a sudden pain to the back of my head; Rose was tangled in the arms of a robot.

I felt the cold stone floor under my body and felt shocks of pain ache through me. An evil cackle echoes through room and the clanging of metal decreases from my ears.

"When she's awake, bring her to me." I heard a male voice speak.

I don't intend on waking up anytime soon or hopefully at all. I could only remember the sudden ambush of robots upon us and horrible grip of the enemy that left bruises around my wrists and body. I hoped Shadow had escaped and had taken refuge in the city and found Sonic; I prayed that he wouldn't come back for me; Eggman would not spare Shadow for betraying him years ago or would he? Shadow did possess a Chaos Emerald and Eggman always intended to use Shadow as his weapon; I'd tell Shadow to run far from here with the others if I had the power but I only had hope.

I felt my eyes slowly open to the darkness around me and let them wander around only to find no light in the room. I choked on the lack of air in the room and began to crawl to find the door; I was as blind as a bat. A sudden pang of the metal door echoed and the room was alit with white light, blinding me again. Large metal arms grabbed me by arms and began to drag me out as I struggled and yelled for help, unable to see where they were taking me.

"Let me go! Let me go, you ugly things!" I yelled but was only dragged harder.

I was thrown onto the floor but the painful grip of the robots still held onto me.

"Now, that is no way to treat our guest, Emeridge 60, release her." said a familiar male voice.

I looked up to see the marvellous iron built room of tall columns , large computer screens with colourful buttons and a large padded chair where an obese man seated upon it.

"Eggman." I whispered.

"It's wonderful to see you awake, my dear." Eggman said with a smile.

"I see you're trying another useless attempt to conquer the world again, Doctor. I pity the lack of sense you have." I spat with venom.

He gave a dark chuckle, "You're just as naïve as I left you, Miss Rose. I don't think you even have a clue of my plan."

"Enlighten me." I replied.

"You must be familiar with G.U.N's mission to track my activity through the years but what they did not realize was that I had completely abandoned my base in outer space and had taken refuge on Earth and built an underground bunker off the coast of Antarctica. With whatever inventions I had, I concocted a plan that would take the world by storm. I would travel to America and claim one of the states to myself. Of course, Sonic would step in to save the day but I did not know that he would bring those other infernal Mobilians but I noticed that three were left out of the picture; Shadow, Rouge and you. Luckily I detected you before I could get the front field guards to come back to base." He said.

"You still haven't told me the interesting part."

"By interesting you must mean your little friends. You'll be happy to know that Shadow is alive and well." Eggman spoke politely as my eyes followed his out stretched arm to the right.

The door hissed open and there he was, shackled by his wrists and ankles. He was weak and bloody, his eyes were dulled down from a brilliant red to rust; he had been tortured.

"What have you done to him?" I exclaimed.

His eyes locked onto mine at the sound of my voice, widened and blazed, he began to pull away from the shackles.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on her, Eggman." he yelled with fury.

"I won't have to, Shadow. My army will." he said with a sickening smile crawling upon his face.

The robots pulled me up and back down with powerful force that I heard something crack as my body hit the ground and before I could prepare myself, I was kicked across the room to Shadow; I wheezed out in pain and gasped for air. I felt the soft arms of Shadow wrap around me protectively as I slipped in and out of consciousness. I could catch glimpses of his eyes; determined, murderous and loving but it was mainly fear that filled his eyes.

If I could only stay in his arms a little longer but I pushed myself away from him before he could get hit and I pushed myself up to my feet and let my broken arm hang by my side as I readied myself to attack. The robots lunged at me and I whipped out the knives towards them in fury; the knives plunged into the first robot and the cross wiring led it to explode. Unfortunately for me, the explosion had distracted my attention and the second robot was able to get a hold of my arm and a painful stab was inserted into my arm; a syringe froze me. Suddenly I felt around stab but this time in my stomach. Once again, I was thrown down before Eggman and screamed out in pain as I landed on my broken arm.

"Now I can tell you the best part of my plan, Miss Rose. We are at the moment where one the three Obscure Towers that will lead my plan into action, these towers aren't your ordinary towers but hold extraordinary power to make conquering the world much easier for me. The contorted and blackened forms of the towers were formed from no one other than Shadow's blood." Eggman spoke.

Shadow hid his face in shame and I understood that this plan was not like any other plan Eggman had devised.

It was impossible that Shadow's blood had all the potential to create such an image; although Black Doom's blood runs through his veins. Eggman could have easily altered the blood cells to potentially hold dark powers because Shadow's creation was from the blood of Black Doom.

"The bottom of the towers will dig down to the core of the Earth and from the reaction of the dark blood, the core will not be able to control itself and the Earth will be infected from the effect of Shadow's blood and every hour of every passing day, a city will die out, thus ending the human race." he cackled.

I felt the breath knocked out of me, time had frozen around me; fear began to overwhelm me to a heart racing rate; I was suddenly taken by the throat by Eggman and was face-to-face with him.

"Now I want you to tell me where Sonic is." he said calmly as he began to tighten his grip around my neck.

"Stop, Eggman! She knows nothing!" Shadow yelled.

_He does not know where Sonic is._

I felt a heavy burden lift off my shoulders and a smile stretch across my face. If he didn't know where Sonic was, he was probably hiding in the city with the others ready to spring an attack and better than that, they were alive.

"Where is Sonic?" Eggman yelled, loud enough to snap me out of it.

My smile stayed.

"Over my dead body." I said smugly.

Disbelief was held in both Shadow's and the doctor's eyes but soon a gun was planted to my forehead.

"No, Rose!" Shadow yelled again.

"Don't you dare attack so smart with me! I'll kill you right here, right in front of Shadow!" yelled Eggman as he pushed the gun harder at my forehead.

A sudden burst of light followed by a series of explosions consumed us; smoke and bright lights travelled everywhere. Eggman's grip was loosened from my collar and I fell to the ground as the sounds of strangulation were covered by the explosion; haunting to my ears. The smoke became transparent and I looked up to see a large gaping hole in the roof; I looked to the walls for Shadow an saw nothing but broken shackles.

If my eyes were not fooling me, I could swear I could see multiple coloured orbs of gold, purple and greens glowing in the distance zipping around especially multiple beings flying through the smoke. The explosions continued, the fires grew faster, Eggman's army began to pile in and I was dying. Three magnificently gold figures walked to the centre of the room and suddenly shot up towards the roof; I tried to reach out for someone, to help me, to get me out of here.

"Grab the vile and Chaos Emeralds and we need to get out of here!" instructed a female voice.

That voice…could it be?

"Heeeeeeeeeelp!" I screamed.

Everything was happening so fast, I wasn't sure what was happening; finally unable to drag myself and handle the pain from my body, I gave in and fell into unconsciousness.


	14. Chapter 14: Wrapped In One

I walked through the thick snow as I continuously called out for Shadow, I was alone, unarmed and unprotected. The snow continued to fall softly as the sun began to set and it began to rekindle a horrible glint of fear in me. I grew worried as I was beginning to recognize the environment and it was screaming in the back of my head that I needed to find a way out of the western forest. My fear finally melted away when Shadow stepped out from heavy mist and his eyes shining in an unrecognizable emotion. I reached out my hand to take his hand in mine but he began to back away so suddenly; my face was contorted in confusion.

"Run…" he whispered as his eyes began to fill with fear.

"What?" I replied.

I was answered by a horrific roar that erupted from the mist behind Shadow. He turned in a protective stance keeping me away from harm's way and was suddenly snatched away from my sight into the dark mist; the air was filled his agonizing screaming. Everything was happening so suddenly, I gripped my fingers at my head and screamed as a puddle of blood began to stain the snow in front of me. I pulled myself into an attempt of a run but it was useless, my feet were sunken deep into the snow and refused to budge. Tears spewed from the corners of my eyes as I continued to struggle to get out until I heard Shadow's screaming finally end and I was lunged at by a black being with hauntingly vibrant yellow eyes as I let out one last scream.

"Amy…Amy, wake up." cooed a soft voice.

I heard the soothing sweet voice I had been longing to hear for a long time. Her hands gently wiped my face with a wet cloth to wake me up and it helped; my eyes shot up to meet her silver eyes shining through the dark night. I sat up in a hurry like she would disappear and wrapped my arms around her.

"Be careful." Ella said as she put me back down on the soft snow.

I clutched my casted arm as Ella began to fill a syringe with velani and inserted it into my good arm. The pain began to reduce and I could finally speak again.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"We're almost home, we're in the eastern forest but we're almost close to the southern border." she said as she wiped the sweat from my forehead.

"Where's Shadow? What happened at Eggman's base?" I asked frantically.

"Don't worry; everything will be out in the open for you." Ella said before she began her tale.

* * *

It was dark and dreary in the shabby, broken home we took shelter in. Getting in through the shield was easy but we knew would never get out unless we had taken care of Eggman. Blaze stood watch by the windows, often feeding more flames to the weak fire we sat by and cooked our meals. Whatever we took in our travel bags was sufficient but it depended on how long this mission would take.

I sat beside Knuckles tending to his bloody knuckles; he'd punched out most of the robots we had faced along the way; Blaze's flames were useless for the robots wouldn't melt away but she was creative enough to burn down the highway to destroy a section of Eggman's army that blocked our way. Sonic and Silver were silent, most of the time thinking of a way to get in to Eggman's base. We were well aware of Eggman's plan; before we travelled to the western forest, Rouge had picked up a threat from Eggman revealing his plan to G.U.N, his plan had left everyone unprepared for the worst and the world went on global hiatus.

Sonic walked quietly towards the broken high arched window and looked at the haunting towers of Eggman's base. I don't know what was going on in his mind but he was at the beginning of the craziest idea I had ever heard from him.

"Chaos Control." he suddenly spoke.

We all turned towards Sonic, confused.

"What about it?" asked Blaze.

"We may not be able to Chaos Control our way in, but we can blast our way in to the main tower." said Sonic.

"Are you nuts! You're not going to have enough time to blast in with Silver without being detected from the outside." exclaimed Knuckles.

"Unless there was a distraction." I said.

"Don't give them any ideas, Ella! The last thing we want is two more hedgehogs dead…" yelled Knuckles.

Sonic gripped Knuckles' shoulder and Knuckles walked off towards the back room, fuming. He saw Amy as a little sister and to find out that Shadow had failed in protecting her made him snap. I wiped the fresh tears away from my eyes and began to reminisce about the love between Shadow and Amy; truly star crossed lovers. Rumor has it that they were captured and were killed before Eggman; Shadow was made to watch Amy take a bullet through her head. He was spared to live a few days but it was more than torture to live in insanity alone.

It was odd and eerie before Silver could break the silence.

"However crazy it is, it is the only way we can get into Eggman's base." said Silver.

"I can distract them by trying to burn down the guard grounds outside the towers." said Blaze.

"Me, Ella, Knuckles and Silver will get to the top of the tower and blast our way through, get the vile of Shadow's blood and the Chaos Emeralds. Blaze, when we leave retrieve everything, you need to come in and burn the inside of the main tower. When we have the Chaos Emeralds with us, me and Silver will destroy the towers and the infected city through Super Mode." Sonic instructed.

"When do you propose we attack?" I asked nervously.

"Tonight." he said determined.

Everyone dispersed to prepare for the mission while Sonic silently walked over to me and gently placed two gold rings in my hand and sweetly kissed my forehead before walking off to the back room. Our beginning and end lay in my hand.

So it was settled, we were to attack the towers at nightfall.

They straddled along in different groups to meet along the wall of the towers; I stayed with Sonic and Blaze and we were to handle the front, Knuckles and Silver took the back and we would meet at the top while Blaze worked her magic. The plan was blurred out and occurred fast. Sonic scooped me up in her arms and sped forward and Blaze took the sky encircled in a fiery aura. The wall exploded to reveal a decent to speed through and soon we running and zipping past the attacking robots surrounding us. Blaze was unrecognizable; the flames enlightened her body to look like she was a lit in a purple fire and her eyes glowed a lovely golden shade.

"Hold tight." he whispered.

It was the last glimpse I caught of her before we began to run up the tower; with Sonic's amazing speed, I wouldn't doubt us falling. The robots continue to shoot at us but none were able to reach us before Blaze pulsed out her flames and tackled them down. Everything went still and the breeze was slow and stiff; we had reached the top. I was put down to my feet and we scanned the area for Silver and Knuckles; they burst through from a glowing green bubble and finally landed beside us. Now was the moment of truth, we couldn't mess up on this mission, not when the world was in danger. Suddenly the surface began to pulse…almost like a heartbeat; the black surface began to ooze and grab on to our legs.

"Ella…" a soft voice spoke.

* * *

The visuals broke, the story still unfinished, the war diminished in my mind and we looked towards the blue figure leaning by a tree nearby.

"It's time to go home, the south has taken down its force field." said Sonic as he began to approach us.

I was helped up to legs by both of them and threw my arms around Sonic's neck.

"I'm glad you're safe." I said as I pull away.

A smile grew over his face, "Right back at you."

"I'm sure Shadow has taken everyone safely home, now it's your turn, Amy." Ella said with a smile.

I felt a soft hand slowly take mine and I turned to find Shadow's handsome face looking away from mine; I had no time to react before we were transported through a haze of rushing light. The rush had stopped and I opened my eyes to find myself in my home, alone. I was confused at first, yet able to feel the sick feeling in my stomach from Chaos Control. Thoughts spiralled in my mind in disbelief to what our past few days had been; the excitement from danger was back.

I felt my feet hit the ground and my eyes shot open to my home; I took in the comfort of being home again, the colours, smell and light. I sat down on my couch, awaiting Shadow's arrival. What would he say? But why wouldn't he look at me? It was no use wondering what had happened; I had been falling in and out of consciousness after Sonic's attack. Minutes passed, then an hour but my eyes had deceived me and I fell asleep.

"Why would you foolishly put your life on the line?" a voice whispered.

I began to stir to the voice and slowly opened my eyes to see Shadow sitting by my body; I don't remember lying down on the couch before I fell asleep. His face was serious, his eyes averted from me to the flickering fireplace.

"A life for a life." I said sleepily.

He turned his eyes to me, they held disbelief and frustration.

"Did you even think about what you were doing? He held a gun to your head, for God's sake!" he snapped.

I was hurt from his tone; I grew frustrated at his conservative attitude.

"Better me than you. Either way, Shadow, I'm not interested in being judged for my actions." I said, sternly as I got off the couch and walked away into the kitchen.

"I'm trying to do what's best for your well-being! To protect you!" he exclaimed.

"You were shackled to a wall! You couldn't protect me; I would've taken as many bullets as I could that day just to protect you!" I said.

"Do not say that, Rose..." he whispered with venom on the tip of his tongue.

"Well, that's my reality-" I said.

I was unable to finish my sentence when suddenly I felt myself take a quick yet gentle grasp around me. My eyes closed, his breath on my lips, tense muscles; Shadow held my shoulders firmly.

"I can't lose you, not again. I should have thought twice before letting you follow me into Eggman's twisted game." Shadow whispered.

I opened my eyes to see his, they were genuine. He was hurting, broken, tortured with fear; I couldn't imagine what he could have felt watching me playing the death card. The writhing anger, unbearable heartache, dying to disappear altogether or maybe the urge to murder; I began to see that I was the one torturing him. I was being so selfish to not see what he was doing to keep me alive, I slowly took his face in my hands and broke the silence.

"I'm sorry..." I whispered.

A small smile pulled a corner of his lips and he pulled me into a tender kiss to show the acceptance of my apology resting it with forgiveness and his fiery affection. His lips, like velvet, slowly brushed against mine and enveloped me in his taste, running my hands through his ebony quills. I pulled apart only to see his ruby eyes free of guilt and anger and replaced with a rejuvenated glow in them.

"How did we escape?" I whispered.

His eyes shifted away from me and pulled me back to the couch, gently running his finger through the side of my head. He began to ready himself to tell his tale.

* * *

"Don't you dare attack so smart with me! I'll kill you right here, right in front of Shadow!" yelled Eggman as he pushed the gun harder at Rose forehead.

Not a single whimper escaped her lips; she just stood there ready to take the bullet. Watching everything was stirring an odd energy through me until I could feel like I could burst. Anger and hatred ran through me as he pulled back the trigger, I began to lose myself and letting out yell, I was surrounded in a warm burst of light with a series of explosions and broke through the shackles.

My eyes zoomed around frantically searching for Rose and caught the eyes of Eggman with mine. I finally wrapped Eggman's neck around my finger and squeezed the breath out of my body; I gave a final twist releasing all the years of suffering and pain. He choked and writhed in lack of oxygen and finally stopped. My teeth and hand unclenched but all remained was the grimace on my face.

_Hell will take it's time with you, Doctor._

The explosions continued and a mob of robots began to pile in through the door; Rose was nowhere to be seen for the smoke was so thick.

"Rose!" I yelled.

I felt a tight grip on my wrist and turned around to see the smoke clear to reveal Silver.

"Shadow? You're alive?" he yelled through the explosions.

"How are you-? Where are the others?" I yelled back.

"They're here! There's no time, Shadow! We have to act fast!" he yelled through the explosions.

"I have to find Amy!" I yelled back.

"The others will find her! Trust me!" he said pulling me along into the black smoke.

The smoke slowly cleared as we came closer to a dark figure and surrounding him were six glowing Chaos Emerald; Sonic's face changed to shock.

"What...?" I heard him whisper, "Shadow?"

"Okay, yes! We all thought each other were dead but we're all fine! Can we get on with it?" Silver told Sonic impatiently.

Sonic nodded and looked to me for the seventh Emerald. I pulled out a glimmering green Emerald and held it out into the smoke and it floated into place with the Emerald, enclosing the circle around us. In concentration, we began to focus on the power of the Emeralds as they began to spin faster and faster around us and burst into a white light and we were surrounded in a gold aura. Our light cleared away the black smoke and we shot up towards the sky until I suddenly was stopped by an idea.

I looked down towards the debris covered floor with the others fighting against Eggman's army and found a pink body lying unconsciously on the ground. I shot a gold bolt of energy towards Rose and her body was surrounded in a gold aura and she soon returned to her usual pink; her breathing began to stir. My attention soon turned to a large contraption attached to the ceiling and it could only be what was keeping the shield force up and shot a blast of energy at it, bursting it into debris.

'_Til we meet again, Rose._

I shot back into the sky with Sonic and Silver until we were above the three towers. A green light erupted from the towers and it was signalled that Ella that transferred the others out of the towers. An electrical energy flowed through my veins and soon we were zipping around, destroying the towers. Black ooze began to melt and disintegrate in the ground leaving a metallic surface to the tower.

"We'll have to destroy the entire tower!" Sonic said.

"The civilians?" Silver asked.

"We can't help it. They'll have to understand that the soil is too contaminated with Black Doom's blood, we can't risk them getting exposed to it." I said.

Luckily, they were all evacuated in time through the underground pods. It was a shame that such an accomplished part of town would have to be destroyed. It was now or never, we concentrated all our power into complete destruction and suddenly, a bright stream of energy poured out from us and shot down at the town. I was blinded by the large eruption of white light from ground that poured out into a large doom and soon fire and smoke exploded out around us. I couldn't see a thing or hear but a painful ringing in my ear followed by a crescendo of screaming of a female's voice. I gripped at my quills and yelled out in pain as the splitting pain in head from before seared through again. Suddenly, my ears were finally welcomed with the loud eruptions of the explosions and we were safe on the ground. Without taking a last look at the town, we turned away and head off into the forest to find the others.

* * *

"When you were asleep a few moments ago, we had Tails come in to give you a check-up. Your blood was tainted with poison but luckily the velani had slowed its process of shutting down your body. That tea you took was a type of antidote that can be found from a foreign plant and whoever gave it to you was trying to save you because the needle that Eggman's robot gave you was poison, so the poison was not able to give much of an effect." I said.

Her eyes widened to what I had said and they slowly lowered down to my hands, she was emotionless. I could tell from Amy's eyes that she was uneasy about the fact that I had exterminated Eggman's life. Although she was grateful for having to see daylight again, she had never thought that Eggman would suddenly be taken away. I felt uneasy that I had extinguished the last of the Robotnik bloodline but I felt no sign of loyalty to his madness but only to Maria.

Amy struggled to begin a conversation but who could blame her? What would she have to say to whom she cared about the most that held the blood of many on his hands and it had begun again?

"Shadow, if it's killing you inside about what I think about you, well I believe that you've created a better future for the world. Without Eggman, we can finally live in peace and I don't want you to torture yourself with the idea that you are a murder. You're a completely person and Maria would be proud to see what you've done to protect everyone. _You've made everyone happy and I love you._" she whispered.

My ears perked up to her sweet voice that had confessed her acceptance of me that made my heart to drop. A warm feeling flowed to my cheeks and glint of happiness sparked in me as a smile grew upon her muzzle.

"Rose, all I want is the best for you and I want to protect you so I can never have the feeling like I will lose you. I want to be with you, I want to wake up beside you and remind myself how lucky I am to have someone like you. I love you with all my heart, Amy Rose and I can't live with you. Do me this one favour?" I asked.

"What is it?" she asked sweetly.

The town cathedral's bells echoed in for the New Year as a flash of memories blew through my mind. _The first time we spoke on the ARK, our first sunset, our first fight, our first kiss._ My heart throbbed against my ribcage; a sensation that made me caught my breath and a rush of warmness blossom on my cheeks. Looking into her curious green eyes, I felt a wonderful sense of belonging as I held her petite hands; they always fit perfectly in mine.

"_Marry me." I whispered._

* * *

**There you have it, folks! That is the end of story, but don't worry! There's epilogue to follow and I hope you really like it as I loved writing this story for all the Shadamy shippers! Thank you for reading my story and for the reviews! Love you~**

**-ivoryebonykeys**


	15. Chapter 15: Epilogue

Our home was alit with summer light ridding of all the shadows in the corners; yet our newborn child shone radiantly with innocence and a jovial energy. Her green eyes, much lighter than her mother's, looked around at the glittering high arched window as she nestled in Rose's arms. The sunlight brought a warm aura around the mother and child as she cooed a soft lullaby. My breath refused to escape as I listened to the sweet melody of Rose's voice as she usually sang the same lullaby to me when I hung in despair.

**Rain shall cease to fall,  
May it glisten in the morning,  
Or storm in the night,  
Sleep, my love, the sun will come again.**

Her song brought back the memories of her adorned in white as she swiftly walked down a path of camellias, arm-in-arm with Sonic; she was breath-taking. Her green eyes gleamed with a soft glow from the sunlight and her irrevocable love was bonded with mine as she vowed to be my bride and love for as long as we lived. We danced; she spun by my side as the music enveloped us in a love song, her head on my shoulder and hand in mine, my eyes could not tear away from her glowing beauty. Prior to our matrimony, we decided to celebrate our marriage in the city of Soleanna. The afternoon sun bowed down to the reigning moon bringing out the city lights of vibrant colours as we overlooked the beauty of Soleanna. Rose, my striking bride, looking up to me eyes as her eyes gazed through her thick lashes sent chills down my back as I placed butterfly kisses down her neck reminding me that such exuberant beauty could not exist anywhere than in her. _But now, I found it in my daughter._

I caressed our child's head, feeling her soft fur against my fingertips as she let out a soft coo and began to feel around in the air with the tiny hands.

"She wants her father." Rose said softly with smile.

A smile pulled at the corners of my lips as I was referred to as a 'father' as I carefully took my daughter into my arms. Her hands softly patted my muzzle as her green eyes gazed into mine; she was the spitting image of her mother with green eyes, pink fur and yet a little temperamental. I nuzzled my nose against hers, taking in the breath-taking moment that the little one in my arms was my daughter, someone so sweet and tiny. For someone so small, her personality would flow through me; loving, intellectual, determined and jovial. She was daydreamer, always in her world of thoughts; a quiet child unlike any other. _Just like her father_, Rose would usually say. Her eyes began to droop and her hands grew tired to patting my face and soon she was in a peaceful slumber.

_Sleep well, my little one._

"She's just as beautiful as you, Rose." I said.

Carefully placing a soft kiss upon our daughter's forehead, I put her down in her little bed and she nestled into the warm, plush blankets. Her little mind would float with peaceful dreams as I usually pictured a peaceful life for her, undisturbed by Eggman. Turning to my wife, I pulled her to sit down with me and pressed my lips against her temple. The sunlight showered over us, making Rose's eyes slowly close and nuzzle closer to me; I whispered the rest of her lullaby to her.

**Sleep, my little light,  
Here I'll stay by you,  
In the darkness,  
Or in the shadows of the night,  
So sleep, my love, the sun will come again.**

Wrapping my arms around her, I placed my head upon hers and felt a growing spark of warmth linger in my chest watching my Rose sleep soundly. Slowly the spell of sleep blew over me and soon I was asleep with Rose in my arms with the dreams of her and our daughter swimming in my mind for nothing could replace this pure perfection; this was truly what I was given a second chance for.

* * *

It's finally complete! Woop! I've had alot of fun writing this story and I've been brainstorming for a new story. Thank you for reading~


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